Monster
by wisegirl502
Summary: Steve's on mission to find Bucky & with the help of his Sam Wilson, it might be possible. But after two weeks, nothing turns up; Bucky might as well be a ghost. But when a call from Fury gives a potential lead, Steve has to decide if the new informant is telling the truth or is merely using him as a means to escape a maximum-security prison.
1. Chapter 1

**So I've been on Tumblr a lot and for some posts, I've been needing Steve and Bucky stuff. Well, this prompted a lot of Bucky feels (although I love Steve). Since the Captain is the main character of another story of mine, I'm making Bucky the main character of this one :) Just some rules, if you like the story-review! If you like the story but have some suggestions, give me constructive criticism, not destructive, because then I'll ignore it. Lastly, if you don't like the story, move on and find one you do without leaving nasty comments or flames, okay? They're pointless. All right, enjoy!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**Who the hell is Bucky?"  
****~ Bucky Barnes in **_**Captain America: The Winter Soldier**_

* * *

Chapter 1

**Sam**

_We just did._

Those were the words Steve had said to me two weeks ago when I asked him when we would start searching for the Winter Soldier, a.k.a. Bucky, a.k.a. Steve's best friend from his childhood. If I had known what I was getting myself into, I still would've joined in helping him. I was the _only_ one helping him in this so far. Maybe because most people thought it was a suicide mission chasing after a master assassin, but Steve is an expert on doing near-suicidal stunts (like breaking onto a Hydra base by himself, riding a motorcycle by himself, crashing a plane into the ice, etc.) and surviving them.

Our search for Bucky had been pretty unproductive. All we found out was stuff we already knew from reading his file. Steve was getting frustrated, I could tell, but he didn't say anything. He kept moving forward.

The two of us were in his apartment, working again, when the phone rang. I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Is Steve Rogers there?" A gruff but familiar voice inquired firmly.

"Depends on who's asking," I countered. After what I'd just been through, I didn't trust anyone.

"Sam, this is Nick."

"Nick…?" I prompted, even though I had an idea.

"Fury. The one who's supposed to be dead. Ring a bell?"

"Just checking," I said. "Yeah, Steve's here. Hang on."

I started handing the phone to my friend but he put it on speaker and greeted, "Hello, sir."

"Captain, how's your search coming?"

"Honestly, not that well. How is your mission going?"

"Better than yours," Fury responded, "but not by much. Listen, I came across something- or rather someone- that might be of use to you in searching for Sergeant Barnes."

Steve perked up but remained cautious in his tone when he asked, "Who is it?"

"I don't know her personally. She told her story once, but hasn't said another word. The jail that has her imprisoned say she's lost all of her marbles and all the stuff she's saying about the Winter Soldier is bull, but I think she knows more than she's letting on. She might be more willing to talk to a person who knew him too, personally."

"Where is she and what's her name?" Steve queried, grabbing a pen and paper.

"Annabeth Drew. She's a brilliant doctor among other things. She's at ADMAX in Florence, Colorado. Since she worked for Hydra, she's under maximum security in an isolation cell. She was staying in a hotel in D.C. when they found her. The U.S. government worried someone from Hydra might try to bail her out or kill her, so that's why she's in the top max-security facility in the country."

"How did you find this out?" Steve had suspiciously expression. I just leaned back and continued to listen.

"Agent Hill has some friends who work there, and they watched the news about her involvement with bringing down S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Winter Soldier, so they called her about it, she called me, I'm calling you. Do you want to talk to Miss Drew? If so, call Agent Hill. She'll work it out for you."

"I'll think about it. Thank you Nick," Steve said.

"Good luck." The ex-director hung up, leaving me and Captain in silence for a few moments.

I decided to break that silence by saying, "What do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure. I'm worried that if we leave now, we might lose the opportunity to find something useful about Bucky, but Nick wouldn't have called if he didn't think this Annabeth Drew wouldn't be helpful in some way. What do you think?"

"I want to know why she won't say anything to anyone, and I think Fury was right. She might be more willing to talk to someone who knows the Winter Soldier. I say we give it a shot. It's the best lead we've had."

Steve nodded. "Then it's settled. I'll go call Agent Hill. Start packing your bags."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! This story will be a lot shorter than most of mine so I might just keep knocking out the chapters. Oh! And be sure to check out my Avengers' blog on tumblr: .com - review please? :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, so Captain America saved the world twice, and it only cost him two Bucks.**

**I'm sorry.**

**I don't know what came over me to make that joked.**

**Read on.**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**I thought the punishment usually came after the crime."  
****~Steve Rogers in **_**Captain America: The Winter Soldier**_

* * *

Chapter 2

**Steve**

The maximum-security prison definitely lived up to its name as Sam and I received permission to go visit Annabeth Drew. Security gave us multiple screenings to make sure we had no weapons on us. They reluctantly allowed me to keep my shield with me. I didn't like to part with it. It had saved my life, and others, too many times.

Four guards led us to an isolation bay that was in the center of the prison, in the most guarded section. I learned, surprisingly enough, Annabeth, despite being imprisoned here, was treated rather nicely. I mean, all the guards thought she'd "lost her marbles" (I still didn't know why), but overall the girl was apparently respectful and quiet. They didn't deem her as a threat herself; they deemed her HYDRA affiliates as the threat, therefore keeping her here in a max-security prison to prevent her old employer from bailing her out or killing her.

"Miss Drew, you have visitors," the guard announced. I peered into the cell. It was very drab and plain, which was to be expected; however, the occupant had made use of most of the space by putting books on almost every available surface. I raised my eyebrows at the sight.

"The books are my only form of entertainment," Annabeth said. She must've seen my face. She stood up, smoothed out her uniform, and introduced herself. "I'm Annabeth Drew. You're Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'd shake your hand, but there's a door blocking my way."

The guards opened the door and escorted her out. Annabeth was tall, curvy, blonde-haired, and had sparkling hazel eyes that told me her brain was working a mile a minute about… well, everything. Her face seemed haggard though, like she'd been spending countless, sleepless nights.

She offered her hand out for me and Sam to shake. We did, not wanting to be rude. This girl hardly seemed like someone who would work for HYDRA, making me wonder if she'd worked for them willingly or against her will. I was certainly going to find out.

"I have an idea about why you're here, but would please enlighten me on your reason?" Annabeth asked politely, seeming actually nervous. I didn't want her to be. I wasn't here to make fun of her like the others did; I was here to find out information. That was it.

"Is there a place we can sit down?" I questioned the guards politely. They nodded and led us to a small room. The guards stood outside on my orders. I worried Annabeth wouldn't want to say anything in front of them seeing as how she knew what they thought of her sanity.

"We were told you could give us information on the Winter Soldier. I'm searching for him and-" I began.

Annabeth interrupted me. "His name is James Buchanan Barnes. He was your best friend growing up. You're searching for him because he's your best friend. Am I right?" When I simply stared at her in relative shock that she knew so much already, she blushed and added, "I did some reading when I was in HYDRA. I was your friend's doctor, nurse, technician, whatever you want to call me. I'm the one who made sure he was in top condition for the past ten years. HYDRA used him a lot in the past decade."

"Did you know you were working for HYDRA?" Sam queried curiously. "You don't strike me as the type of person who believed in what they did."

Annabeth sighed. "No, I didn't know I was working for them. Not at first at least. They recruited me when I was eighteen. I'd already accumulated a lot of medical knowledge. I'd graduated high school early, went to college over in Scotland, and studied medicine. My mother was a doctor and she taught me everything from an early age. My father worked for the CIA and was the person to go to when you wanted to hack into some database or fix some machinery. They taught me everything they knew. HYDRA wanted me badly, but they lied to me, saying they were recruiting bright young minds to serve as nurses on the battlefronts. They fooled me and my parents. I agreed. For the first six months, they had me tend to… normal human beings, meaning people that didn't have a metal arm or people who didn't have superpowers. But one day in December, they called me in, saying that they had a very important job for me. I accepted it. It was the first time they introduced me to the Winter Soldier. I'd heard stories about him, but I thought he was just a legend. When I saw him though, it was rather frightening to be honest, and I don't get scared easily."

"Why were you scared?" I asked.

"Because of three reasons. The first being it was at that moment I realized I was working for HYDRA, second because I knew I was trapped into staying there, and third, the Winter Soldier had seriously maimed the previous doctors that had tried to help him. Now they were sending me in there. You could imagine I was rather apprehensive, but I had no choice in the matter."

"How did it go?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" She chuckled lightly. Her eyes went down to the table, refusing to meet mine or Sam's.

"Why didn't you try to get out of HYDRA once you found out you were working for them?" Sam inquired. At this, Annabeth bit her lip.

"Why do you want to know? You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she grumbled, slouching back in her chair.

"Because what you know could help us in searching for him, and I'm curious to know why you stayed with HYDRA."

She let out a deep breath. "I got attached to my job."

"Helping out a secret society hell bent on destroying the current order of the world?"

"No," Annabeth snapped, "I hated them. I hated what they stood for."

"You got attached to Bucky," I stated. The idea seemed far-fetched, but he had been her job. He had been what she was supposed to take care of. It was the last, logical answer.

And I was right.

Annabeth nodded her head, looking defeated, waiting for me and Sam to tell her how crazy she was, to tell her it was impossible for her to get attached to a person that couldn't remember anything about his past, let alone a nobody that he only saw when she had to check on him. But I wasn't going to do that, and apparently neither was Sam (although I believe he was too stunned by the idea to say anything at all).

"I got attached to him, all right?" Annabeth confessed. She still refused to look at me. "HYDRA treated him horribly. I was the only one who showed him kindness."

"You pitied him?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, I didn't pity for him. I cared for him. I… no, that's all I'm saying," she declared.

"Please, what were you going to say? I'm not going to judge you, and neither will Sam. We're here because we need your help. Any information you can give us is greatly appreciated."

"No, you'll call me a psycho, a lunatic."

"Why would we call you that?"

Annabeth gave me a pained face. "Because like everyone else has said, how can you fall in love with a weapon?"

"You fell in love with Bucky?" I hid the disbelief in my voice, because she appeared to be completely serious.

"To HYDRA, he was an _asset_, a _weapon_, a _thing_ to be controlled," she said bitterly. "I saw a person who had been beaten into submission, a person who had been trained to follow orders and never stray from what he was told to do, to pretty much not have his own thoughts. It pissed me off, and I set out to find a way to free him, some way, somehow. Obviously I didn't succeed or else I wouldn't be here and he wouldn't be missing."

"Why were you trying to find him? I'm not meaning any offense here, but he hardly remembered who Steve was. HYDRA brainwashed Bucky. Why do you think he'd remember you?" Sam asked gently.

"It's a long story…" Annabeth muttered.

"Why don't you tell us? There's a reason you were going after him, and I don't think a simple response will suffice in explaining the importance of it."

"Do you have time? Because it's a long story if I'm starting from the beginning."

I didn't have a lot of time, but I wanted to know her story. To be honest, I believed she needed someone who would listen to her without criticizing what she had done. If what she was saying was true, she'd stayed for Bucky. She'd stayed to take care of him. I owed this girl for keeping my friend alive. This was the least I could do for her.

"I have plenty of time," I said, giving her what I hoped was an encouraging smile.

"Then make yourselves comfy. This might take a while."

* * *

**For the next few chapters, the font style will be in italics to represent the memories of Annabeth. When the font style goes back to normal, it'll be the end of the memories :) Other than that, I have nothing else to say, so review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This point of view is from a special someone :)**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**You're my mission!"  
****~The Winter Soldier in **_**Captain America: The Winter Soldier**_

* * *

Chapter 3

**Bucky**

"_I'm with you 'til the end of the line."_

"_How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you."_

"_Jerk."_

"_I had him on the ropes."_

"_I thought you were dead."_

"_I joined the army."_

"_There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them."_

"_It's me. It's Steve."_

Snippets of memories that came back to me when reading not only my board at the Smithsonian, but Steve's too. It was difficult to believe I was born in 1917. That made me well over eighty years old. It made no sense. How was I still alive and how did I look like a twenty year old?

HYDRA.

My old leaders.

Something they'd done to me made me the way I am. Now if only I could remember what.

I moved around to the part of the exhibit that displayed the outfits worn by Captain America and his Howling Commandos. The center piece, meant to be for the Captain, was empty. Rumor was that he'd taken it for his last battle, his battle against the helicarriers.

And me.

On the right of the empty mannequin was my outfit. It was dark blue, and it looked warm. That was probably since a lot of the missions we did was in the mountains and in winter. European winters in the eastern bloc could be brutal depending on where you were there. Russia in particular.

I moved on from that exhibit to one that talked about a man named Arnim Zola. I knew this name, but from where, I didn't know. I couldn't place it yet. It would come to me at some point. Maybe. I wasn't sure how this whole memory thing was working. I remembered the things that were polar opposites of each other. Naturally, Steve was my first memory. My apparent friendship with him; according to all the information I was reading, he and I had been much more than just "friends." We'd been practically brothers. And these memories I was regaining were the first part of the spectrum. On the other hand were certain blips and clips of people I must've worked with during my time with HYDRA. In particular, a blonde girl. I had no memories of her face, just her voice, and a certain feeling that she was the kindest person I'd crossed paths with since my transformation into the Winter Soldier. I was determined to find out who she was.

I was determined to remember everything.

* * *

**Annabeth**

_Shorts and a tank top were in order for the day. It was hot outside. I'd just finished getting dressed and putting on makeup when the doorbell rang. Neither I nor my parents were expecting visitors that day, so I assumed it was UPS or FedEx. I went downstairs and opened the door. Two men in suits stood there. They looked like the government, and I was on my guard. Just because my dad worked for the CIA didn't mean I trusted our government all that much because I believed HYDRA had somehow infiltrated them. Don't ask me why. I just did. My parents didn't understand my paranoia about that stuff, but I'd read too much on the organization in books and on the internet that led me to believe they were still around and working in the background._

"_May I help you?" I asked cautiously._

"_Yes, are you Annabeth Drew?" One of the men asked. He was the shorter one, but better looking than the other. He was very tan, had black hair, and a strong jawline. Handsome, but not my type. His companion could've passed as Sasquatch he was so tall. Maybe a gorilla on steroids…_

"_Depends on who's asking," I said._

"_My name is Brock Rumlow; this is Neil Jouster. We're S.H.I. . agents. Have you heard of us?"_

"_I've heard of the organization, but not of you two specifically. I'd like to see some ID," I told them firmly, hinting quite blatantly that they didn't have a choice in the matter. But it was no problem. They pulled their badges out of their pockets and let me have a good look. They were definitely legitimate badges. I sighed and allowed them to come in. I shouted for my parents who were in our basement. The two of them came up quickly. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents introduced themselves._

"_May I ask why you're here?" My father inquired._

"_S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps track of all the bright, exceptional minds across the United States based off of test scores, GPA, and the likes. It seems your daughter has been on the top of their watch list. She's fluent in French, has above a four-point-o GPA, has been interning at the hospital where you work at Mrs. Drew, and has exceptional skills in computer technology," Agent Rumlow explained._

"_So you're recruiting me?"_

"_Yes, in a manner of speaking. We're offering you a paid internship plus free education in the area of your choice. S.H.I.E.L.D. trains the best surgeons, nurses, doctors, and technicians in the world. And your salary would not be on the low side. You would start out with a handsome salary of around fifteen hundred a week since your education would be half your work, I say it's a pretty sweet deal. You're one of five students in the country that are getting this offer. Are you interested?"_

_I was most certainly interested, but there was some sort of drawback here, and I wanted to know what it was. I had a fantastic spot at Rice University in their medical school, but this was a _paying_ internship plus an education. How many people get a chance like this?_

"_What's the drawback to this?"_

"_The only drawbacks I can think of is you would have to reject your acceptance to Rice and come live in D.C. Certainly not as hot there as it is here."_

"_How long do I have to decide?" I queried._

"_You have three weeks. Will that work?" Rumlow asked. I hesitated before nodding. "Good. It was a pleasure meeting you Miss Drew, and I hope I will see you working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the future. Mr. Drew, Mrs. Drew, pleasure to meet you. Have a good day."_

_Rumlow left, leaving me and my parents alone. I looked at them, knowing we were going to have a long discussion ahead of us._

* * *

_**Two weeks later…**_

_Sure enough, our discussion lasted a very long time. My parents and I talked every day about it, but it took two weeks for us to actually decide on whether or not I should go to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. It'd been quite the heated argument between my parents. My mom was against me going to work for them. My dad was for it, saying it was a rare occurrence that the organization recruited people. I'd been stuck in the middle, but I leaned towards working for them. I pretty much was getting paid to study, to get educated. But I was so wary of government organizations…_

_I knew I'd probably regret accepting the offer at some point in my life but at the same time, I might never get another offer like this…_

_I accepted it. When I contacted Rumlow again, he sounded rather excited I'd done so._

"_Great!" he exclaimed. "I'll contact my boss and let him know you accepted. "He'll want to talk to you personally. He'll give you all the information you need, accommodations, what you should bring, what you'll be doing, and the works. He'll contact you soon. Congratulations Miss Drew. You're now a worker of S.H.I.E.L.D."_

_The sound of it made me smile. I was starting to become rather proud that I'd been recruited by them. I thanked him and hung up. A couple days later, I received a call from a man named Alexander Pierce. He was surprisingly pleasant considering he was the Secretary of Defense. Why he was the one to call me was beyond my comprehension, but I figured he was the one overseeing all the new recruits. He told me that I was to move from Texas to D.C. next week, but that it was up to me to find my own place, although that wasn't hard. My parents had started looking the moment we decided I was going. Pierce further explained he would get my textbooks and introduce me to my instructors when I got there. Needless to say, I was by now ecstatic and couldn't wait for my move. I only had to wait one week but it felt like time stood still and that one day was one month. _

_When I arrived at Dulles, my parents and I were greeted at baggage claim by Agent Rumlow and Agent Jouster. They gave me firm handshakes and told me there was an SUV waiting for us outside once my bags arrived. My parents were only staying a couple days to help me get settled in so they just brought carry-on bags. I, on the other hand, had three massive suitcases. I refused to let anyone help me get them off the baggage carousel although I did allow Rumlow and Jouster to take one suitcase each to the car for me. I don't have enough hands to roll all three. We loaded everything and everyone into the car and directed the driver to my new flat. It was located only a few miles from S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, an easy walking distance. It was 1800 square feet with two bedrooms, two and a half baths, a nice kitchen, and was pet friendly! Not that I was planning on having a cat or dog any time soon but just in case I did, it was nice to live in a pet friendly environment. The flat was located in a relatively safe part of D.C. much to my mother's relief. Being an only child, she always worried about me. Settling into my flat didn't take long, and two day later, my parents left and I was heading to my first day at S.H.I.E.L.D._

* * *

**I swear this story will pick up soon! Please review! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Pretty sure this is my new favorite story. That means updates. But my Percy Jackson fanfic "UnTamed" is in a close second, if not tied… Hmm…**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**We'd rather die than do it your way."  
****~Imagine Dragons, **_**Ready Aim Fire**_

* * *

Chapter 4

_**December 12, 2004…**_

_I took a glance up from my computer screen to look outside. It was a dreary winter day. Snow was being thrown down on the ground and I knew it was going to be a hellacious trip home even if it was a short trip. I was well over half way done with my homework so I decided I should get home early and finish it there. As I stood up, I was approached by a familiar face._

"_Agent Rumlow," I greeted with a smile._

"_Hello Miss Drew. How are you?" he asked, returning my smile._

"_I'm doing well. You?"_

"_Good, good. Listen, Secretary Pierce has asked for you to come up to his office. He would like me to escort you there."_

"_Oh. Am I in trouble?" I asked, grabbing my coat._

"_Not at all. In fact, you should think of what he's doing for you as a promotion. You'll see. Come, I'll bring you to him." Rumlow held his arm out for me. I looped my arm through his and followed. I found out he was only twenty one. Three years older than me. Not bad, I thought. He'd certainly grown on me over the past few months, and to be honest, I really wanted to date him. But then again, he was my coworker and technically one of my bosses. If he asked me to do a job for him, I had to. It would make things awkward between us at work if we ended up dating and breaking up._

_We entered the elevator and went to the top floor. Rumlow led me into Pierce's office and left._

"_Good evening, Miss Drew. How are you today?" Mr. Pierce inquired, leaning against his desk._

"_I'm doing well. The weather could be better, but we can't control the weather unfortunately. How about you sir?"_

"_Very good actually. You must be wondering why I called you up here."_

"_I would be, sir. I didn't ask because I knew you would tell me sooner or later."_

"_Smart girl. I've been watching your progress along with the others since you arrived here, and I must say, you have excelled in everything we have tasked you with. It's quite extraordinary. So I have a new task for you. By far, the most important one you will most likely ever encounter. Some of the other interns have attempted it but failed. Are you willing to try it?"_

"_I am, sir. What is this task?" I asked._

"_I will show you. Come with me." I followed Pierce into the elevator. "Level Zima."_

"_Access denied; Annabeth Drew is not allowed," the elevator said._

"_Secretary override. Pierce, Alexander M." The elevator lurched down. I watched outside until it disappeared when the elevator went underground, farther and farther. At one point, it revealed a massive room with construction equipment all over the place. Pierce said, "This is for a project in the far future. It's called Project Insight. But that's not your project. Yours is even farther down."_

"_What is Project Insight?" I queried, marveling at the size of the room before walls once more enclosed the elevator, blocking my view._

"_Something that will be very beneficial for humanity. We're almost… there," Pierce said as the elevator stopped. The doors opened and revealed a hallway. Rumlow was waiting there. How he'd gotten down here before us, I didn't know. I didn't question it. Already something felt off about this entire thing. But curiosity was getting the better of me, so I followed Pierce down the hallway. Rumlow walked behind me. I could sense just how close he was. If I wanted to run, there'd be no chance for me to escape. He would block me._

_Pierce turned around and said, "Miss Drew, understand that once you agree to this, there's no backing out."_

"_No offense sir, but I think my chance to say no disappeared the moment I got in that elevator," I chuckled, trying to hide my discomfort._

"_Smart girl. Let me show you what you'll be dealing with. It's a weapon that is extremely important. It's been going rather haywire. We're wondering if you can get close enough and fix it before we freeze it for the next time we need it. Here." Pierce led me into a room full of TVs. On the biggest screen, a room that appeared to be some sort of laboratory focused on a man in a chair. He had shaggy black or dark brown hair, downcast eyes, and a…_

"_Is that a metal arm?" I questioned hesitantly._

"_Annabeth Drew, meet the Winter Soldier. This is what we need you to fix."_

"_I thought you were having me fix a weapon?"_

"_We are. The Winter Soldier is a weapon especially that arm. It has multiple compartments to hide weapons and is made of a metal that can weather many different types of abuse, but it is not completely invincible. The cybernetic arm needs repairs once in a while. This is where you come in. We need you to fix it. Any damage the arm has sustained and also the soldier itself."_

"_Why me?" I looked him in the eye. I wanted a truthful answer._

"_Because the last few people we've sent in to heal him, he's seriously injured them. One guy is going to be blind in his left eye forever, one has a broken arm, and another is paralyzed from the waist down," Pierce informed. I glanced at the soldier._

"_May I see the footage?"_

"_Why would you want to do that?"_

"_To see if there are any warning signs of when he's about to attack."_

_Pierce shrugged and ordered the guard to play the tapes. I watched each one carefully. First off, all the doctors just walked straight up to him and tried to start working on him. The soldier obviously wanted none of that. Second, I noticed he kept his eyes on the guards in the lab. It was like he didn't trust them or something. And third, he was being treated like a machine, not a human being._

"_I'll do it but I have a request to make."_

"_Depends on the request."_

"_I don't want the guards in there when I go in."_

"_He would kill you," Rumlow argued._

"_We all know he could kill me with or without guards in there. I know what I'm doing Secretary Pierce. If you want my help on this, let me do this without guards in the room."_

"_Are you sure about this, Miss Drew?" Pierce confirmed._

"_I'm sure. Show me to his room." I followed the secretary out of the room and to a heavy metal door. He opened it and started speaking with the guards. Rumlow pulled me aside and whispered, "Whatever you do, don't get yourself killed."_

"_I won't get myself killed. I'm smarter than the other people that have tried before me."_

"_That's what they said."_

"_Yeah, and they were all guys. Maybe what this guy needs is a woman in his life."_

"_I need a woman in my life," Rumlow said, winking at me._

"_Oh brother," I chuckled, rolling my eyes. I pulled away from him and stood in front of the door, waiting for Pierce's go ahead._

"_All right Miss Drew. You can go on in. We'll be out here. Be careful and good luck," Pierce said._

"_Thank you sir." I took a deep breath and stepped inside the room. I heard the door shut behind me. I looked at the winter soldier and smiled. "Hello soldier. My name is Annabeth Drew. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help you, if you'll let me. I won't come closer to you unless you allow me to. I'll know what to do if you give me a thumbs up for a yes and a thumbs down for a no." I waited with baited breath as I watched his hands. They remained still for what seemed like hours, but slowly, his thumb lifted upwards, giving me the go ahead. I let out my breath and smiled. "Thank you, soldier. I'll be quick about this," I promised, walking slowly up to him. I'm going to check for bodily wounds first. Those would most likely be the most deadly if you have any. Would you stand up for me? Just so I can get a full scope." I offered my hand for him to take it so I could help him stand. He didn't take it, but still stood up on his own. "Thank you, soldier. I apologize for saying that so often, but I just want to emphasize that I'm not your superior nor am I your inferior. I am your equal and on your side. You're my mission, and I intend to finish it. All right, let's get to inspecting you; I might touch you if I think I see something so please don't freak out on me and throw me into a wall or something. That would be very… unpleasant. Since you don't seem to be one for conversation, do you mind if I sing? It helps me focus." When he didn't answer me, I laughed and added, "Thumbs up for yes, thumbs down for no?" The soldier raised his thumb. "I appreciate it. I hope you like the Beatles."_

_I started singing "Here Comes the Sun" as I walked around him. Except for a few cuts and bruises, he seemed relatively unharmed by whatever he'd done. That was good. I cleaned the cuts with antibiotic ointment and put castor oil on the bruises to help relieve any pain they were causing him. After that I had him sit down. I started examining his arm, running diagnostics on it on the computer, and making sure everything was functioning. Luckily for me, it was. After double-checking just to make sure, I stopped my quiet singing and announced to him, "You're in good shape. Thank you for letting me check on you. I must be going now. I will see you again, all right? Goodbye soldier."_

_I patted him gently on the shoulder and walked out of the lab. Pierce, Rumlow, and the guards stood there staring at me._

"_Is there anymore you need me to do?" I asked._

"_That'll be it. Miss Drew, from here on out, I'm deeming you his official caretaker when he's unfrozen. Now I must remind you, his mind is wiped once in a while to make sure he stays focused on missions so he may not remember you next time you see him," Pierce informed._

_I stared at him. "You erase his memories?"_

"_The few he has."_

"_That's barbaric!"_

"_It's precautionary. If he were to remember everything, we would all be in jeopardy. And remember, you must not breathe a word about this to anyone else. The consequences if you did so would be… severe."_

"_Is that a threat?"_

"_A warning. Rumlow, take her back upstairs."_

_Rumlow grabbed my hand and led me out of the area and into the elevator. He let go of me once the doors shut and we started moving._

"_I'm sorry," he apologized._

"_For what? Tricking me into working for HYDRA?" I snapped._

"_What you did in there was incredible! No one has been able to accomplish what you just did."_

"_That didn't answer my question!"_

_He sighed and looked down. "I didn't want to trick you. I didn't want you doing it. Pierce insisted. And what Pierce wants, Pierce gets."_

"_Why didn't you want me working down there?"_

"_Because I didn't want you getting hurt by it. It's dangerous."_

"It_ is a person, a human, who is being unjustly brainwashed."_

"_Be careful how you speak. If Pierce doesn't like the way you're talking, he'll kill you."_

"_I know. I have no choice but to continue. But this is all I want to do for him. I don't want to participate in anything else."_

"_You won't have to."_

"_Good. Because I'd rather die than help any more than I am."_

* * *

**Annabeth's first encounter with the Winter Soldier! Stay tuned for more! Review :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just watched Captain America 2 again and I just realized that when Peggy says "The world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes, the best that we can do, is to start over," she then loses her memory of that fact that Steve is there, that he's alive, and that he's there to see her and it just gave me a lot of feels because it's a beautifully tragic transition. On that cheery note, enjoy!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**The world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes, the best that we can do, is to start over."  
****~Peggy Carter in **_**Captain America The Winter Soldier**_

* * *

Chapter 5

_Four years passed by, and I'd taken care of the Winter Soldier on twelve occasions. I'd kept specific track of all the times I'd seen him and when HYDRA wiped his mind. They'd wiped his mind four times, once per year. But somehow, even after it, the Winter Soldier would still allow me to come near him and take care of him. And only me. It was this strange allowance he gave me that made me start to wonder what his real name was. Where had he come from? How old was he? I wanted answers, and answers I was going to get._

_On the computer, I had access to only very primitive files on the Winter Soldier, just past procedures that had been performed. But there were other files in that folder, ones that I didn't have access to, ones I needed a password to get into. I didn't know what was in them, but I intended to find out. This is where my dad's special skill came into play. No one could beat him at hacking into others' computers, but he'd taught me enough that I knew I'd be adept enough to break into at least some of these files._

_I went to work, downloading the file onto a USB drive and hightailing it out of the Triskelion. Once back at my flat, the process of breaking into the files was tedious, at times making me want to punch through the computer screen and say screw it. The hacking took well over six hours total. Between cracking each protection code and taking short breaks, it's amazing it took just six hours. But finally, my work paid off and the files were accessible. They were all under codenames still so I just clicked on random ones. The first one I clicked on happened to be the one I'd been looking forward to the most: who the Winter Soldier actually was. The file was surprisingly short:_

_Name: James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes_

_Age: 28_

_Height: 180 cm_

_Weight: 78 kg_

_Born: 1917_

_Hometown: Brooklyn, New York_

_Notes:_

_Served in the American Army in the 107__th_

_Rose to the ranks of Sergeant_

_Oldest child of four_

_Served as a Howling Commando_

"_Killed In Action" while on a mission to capture Arnim Zola_

_Tested on by Arnim Zola before being retrieved by Captain America_

_Retested on by Arnim Zola after train fall; given metal arm_

_Excels both physically and academically_

_Captain America's best friend _

_I stared at the new information. He was born in _1917._ That means he's ninety-seven years old with the appearance of a twenty-seven year old. How was that even possible? But I'd read about Arnim Zola before. He had been a Swiss scientist recruited by the Germans, specifically HYDRA, and was used to create weapons of presumably mass destruction. He'd been one of the greatest minds of the age. If he'd tested on Bucky… well then God only knows what that man had been through, what he'd endured. Zola didn't care if his test subjects lived or died. If they did die, he'd find another person. If they lived, it was a pleasant, quick-to-pass surprise._

_I went searching for more information. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else specific about his life before becoming the Winter Soldier, just what happened after. Each file contained information on missions in a certain country. One file was codenamed _"Lóngwángguó"_ for China (meaning Dragon Kingdom). Germany's codenamed file was _"Kuckucksuhr" _(meaning German clock). France's was _"Drapeau Blanc" _(meaning White Flag). I'd name all the countries with their codenames but we'd be here a while. But in these files were the missions executed in them by the Winter Soldier, and they didn't contain just facts about the mission. They contained pictures, some too gruesome to look at for more than a couple seconds. I started to understand why Rumlow had been so upset with me going into take care of the soldier by myself. The things this soldier was capable of, the things he'd done… it was utterly terrifying._

_But for some strange reason, he didn't scare me. Maybe it was because I knew he was brainwashed multiple times so he probably had no recollection of his missions. Maybe it was because the soldier had never even looked or talked to me._

_I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. My mouth nearly fell open. It was three in the morning and I had work at seven. Knowing that trying to sleep would be futile, I chose to pull an all-nighter. I took a shower, got into some comfy clothes, made some very sugary tea, and went back to reading everything I could on the Winter Soldier. When I was done reading, I still had two hours left before I had to go to work, so I searched for popular songs from the 1940s. I wanted to help the Winter Soldier remember who he was so he could escape HYDRAs grip on him. I wasn't an expert on amnesiac patients, but maybe something from his past, even something as subtle as a song, would help jog his memory. I couldn't let anyone know what I was up to or I'd be a dead person._

_I chose a song to play and got up so I could start getting ready for work. It was called _"It's Been A Long, Long Time" _by Harry James and Kitty Kallen. It was quite the romantic song and the lyrics weren't all that hard to learn. Actually, by the time I was ready to leave my flat, I knew the entire song by heart and I hummed it all day long until I got home and fell asleep at five in the afternoon, not waking up until six the next morning._

_By now, it was apparent that if I were to do something to help the Winter Soldier remember that he was James Barnes, I'd need to know about him myself. I started checking out books from the library, going through four or five a week, and these weren't small books either. There was so much written about Captain America and his Howling Commandos that for over six months, I had no problem keeping occupied. I'd read everything in the near vicinity of my flat about the Howling Commandos by July and I'd started in December. Pretty much, if you had a question about them, I could answer it._

_It was July fourth, and D.C. was decked out in patriotic attire. People were ready for the big fireworks show tonight, including myself. I had just finished getting dressed for work, wearing my favorite blue dress from Banana Republic with some killer peep toe stilettos that were actually professional looking, when there was a knock at my door. I cautiously slipped off my heels and grabbed my gun. Being a young woman living by herself, you learn to take precautions, especially with all the murders that I hear about on the news. I had my gun as a defense weapon, nothing else. I sidled along the wall up to the door, peeking through the peep hole to see Rumlow waiting there. Groaning, I opened the door while I put my shoes back on._

"_Good morning, Anna," he greeted._

"_Morning. It's another mission, isn't it?" It was more of a statement than a question but he nodded. "Let me grab my purse."_

_Once I did what I said, the two of us went downstairs to the Black Escalade waiting for us. We got in. There were two other HYDRA members in there; they were part of the Strike Team. Rumlow was their boss. They all tried to get me talk but my mouth remained firmly shut. I wanted nothing to do with these monsters. I was here for one thing, and one thing only, and that was the Winter Soldier. My job was to take care of him, not to talk to these buffoons. The SUV pulled up to a building I didn't recognize because it certainly wasn't SHIELD headquarters. We got out and went inside. Rumlow led us to the elevator, swiped his security card, and punched in the floor numbers in a certain combination. The elevator went down, past the "bottom" floor and farther. Just how deep underground we went is impossible to tell, but it was deep enough that it took two minutes of uncomfortable silence to get there. When the elevator stopped and opened up its doors, I quickly disembarked. Pierce was there, waiting for us._

"_Miss Drew, the asset is right down the hallway. Just keep walking until you come to the door," Pierce ordered._

"_Yes, sir. The Soldier will be taken well care of," I assured, purposefully calling the Winter Soldier "Soldier" and not "asset" because he wasn't a thing to mess around with. He was a person, a human being; he deserved to be treated as such. I went to his room and entered it quietly. Shutting the door, I said, "Hello, Soldier. Good to see you again. In case you don't remember me, my name is Annabeth Drew. I'm here to take care of you. Will you let me come check you out?" Without looking at me, the Winter Soldier nodded. "Thank you. I know you won't talk to me, so do you mind if I sing? There's a song that's been stuck in my head for weeks now and I just can't seem to get it out. Maybe you've heard it before." With that said, I started singing _"It's Been A Long, Long Time" _to see if it would elicit any reaction out of him, plus I really did enjoy the song. I started working on his arm because it seemed pretty damaged and random sparks would fly out of it. The wiring in it had gotten messed up. So for a good two hours, I focused on straightening that problem out. I switched between singing _"It's Been A Long, Long Time" _and_ "Here Comes the Sun" _because I loved the song too and it was easy to remember. Once I'd finished fixing his arm, I started looking over his body to see if he'd sustained any wounds. His front seemed fine (and not just because he didn't have wounds on the front; he was ripped). His back was another story. I don't know how I'd missed it; maybe because he'd been sitting in his chair in such a way that I couldn't see it or because I'd been to focused on stopping his arm from sparking, but his back had shrapnel embedded all in it. I cringed, wondering how long it'd been in there, how long he'd been in pain, and why anyone hadn't told me._

"_I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed. "If I'd known your back was this bad, I would've started on it first. Oh god, soldier, I'm _so _sorry. Okay, I'm going to need you to turn around so I can get the shrapnel out. Do you mind getting up and doing that for me?" The soldier got up without any arguing and sat down in a position that allowed me full access to his back so I could help get whatever it was that was embedded in his skin out. I pulled out a pair of tweezers, some alcohol, a magnifying glass, cotton pads, and a petri dish before starting the delicate procedure of pulling the shrapnel out. I started talking to pass the time and to help calm myself down. I'd taken care of war wounds, but for some reason, seeing his back nearly shredded by debris made stomach churn nauseously. "I'm going to be blunt about this: what I'm doing is going to hurt, but believe me when I say I'm going to try and prevent as much pain as possible. If I hurt you too much, tell me. Then again, you don't like to talk to me, so maybe you could grunt or grab onto me or something. I'm sure you'll find some way to let me know. All right, let's get this over with." I started pulling out the smallest pieces, the ones that threatened to actually get into his blood stream if moved the wrong way. I started singing, this time _"Love Song" _because it'd been on the radio earlier and it was pretty catchy. The whole time, the Winter Soldier sat perfectly still, although his back muscles would clench and unclench whenever I'd pull a piece of shrapnel out._

"_You're so tough about this," I commented, adding with a laugh, "I would be swearing like a sailor if our positions were switched. What were you before this soldier? A vet maybe? No, I couldn't see that. Maybe a model. Now _that_ I could see. I mean, you have the looks and the build and everything. But you don't strike me as being a model type. Now you do strike me as a type that would be a role model for a military or something. Hey, maybe you were in the Marines or the Army or something like that. Well, whatever you were in, doesn't matter now, does it? It's the past." I fell silent as I pulled out a bigger piece of shrapnel. I switched to speaking Russian, something I'd kept quiet about knowing ever since I'd started working for HYDRA. "But we can always learn from our past," I said softly. "I don't know how much you remember Soldier, but if you ever do remember something from your past, come find me. I'll help you figure it out. I promise. You're my mission. I'm going to finish it. And now, it's expanded into something more than just fixing you up after each mission; now it involves making sure that you one day get out of this hellhole." I switched back to English. "Okay, there's not much left, but I warn you, these last few pieces I'm going to pull out will be painful. They're big, but they're deep in your skin. Just… brace yourself, okay?"_

_I took a deep breath, resting one my left hand on his shoulder. I thought maybe it'd give him some comfort or something like that. Or maybe I was just losing the few nuts and bolts and I still had left in my head. I started tugging on the first piece of shrapnel. I saw the Winter Soldier's hand clench into a fist, but nothing else. I hated doing this to him; Pierce and the others caused him enough pain. I didn't want him to associate me with that too; probably with me working for HYDRA though, that'd already happened. I forced myself to pull the debris out of his back, going as fast as possible. The piece came out, but not without causing the Winter Soldier severe pain, so much pain that his whole body jerked and his hand gripped onto my leg. I felt my hand trembling as I put the fragment into the petri dish. _

"_Okay, that hurt. I'm so sorry, really," I apologized, patting his shoulder. "There's a few more left. Just… hang in there, I guess."_

_I moved quickly, wanting to get the process over with. Each time I pulled out a fragment piece, the Winter Soldier's hand tightened on my leg. I knew I was going to have bruises but I didn't care. If that was how he calmed himself down, then so be it._

_Finally, all the debris was out of his back. The places where they'd been were still bleeding so I used some alcohol on a cotton pad to disinfect them before putting antibiotic cream on them and bandaging them._

"_All right soldier, you should be set. I don't think there's anything else wrong with you that I can see. Try not to let this happen again. I don't mind taking care of you, but I don't like hurting you either and pulling that debris out obviously did so. Be careful, okay?" I asked, stepping in front of him and looking down. He didn't look at me, just kept staring straight ahead. "I'll see you again. Hopefully soon."_

_I left the room and went into the hallway. Rumlow was there to escort me out. He informed me that Pierce had given me the day off after what I'd just done. I didn't mind. I wanted to do more research. Unfortunately, life wouldn't allow for me to do that, because some friends from SHIELD who also had the day off insisted I come along with them for an outing that was apparently going to last until the fireworks show. At least I managed to convince them to let me change into day clothes instead of my work dress that had miraculously managed to avoid getting blood on it._

_I left my flat and met my friends downstairs, hoping they would be able to get my mind off the Winter Soldier._

* * *

_**0100 hrs, July 5, 2009…**_

_I was exhausted. My friends had not stopped going all day, giving me no choice but to go along with them. I had just stepped into my flat when I noticed something was off immediately._

_There was someone else in here._

_I slipped off my shoes and pulled the gun out from underneath the hallway table. Silently, I walked through the hallway, wondering who the hell had broken into my apartment. I stopped just before the entrance to my kitchen. I could hear them breathing in there. I lowered myself; if I peered around the corner, they'd be expecting someone to be higher up, not toddler level. But before I glanced in there, I realized I could _see_ them in my hallway mirror. I'd expected a burglar or a robber, or worse, but this…_

_This meant my imminent death._

_The Winter Soldier sat silently at my dining room table, and shivers went down my spine when I observed that while I was looking into his eyes from the mirror, he was doing the same. He knew I was there. Seeing as how my cover was blown, I stood up._

"_Hello soldier. How are you?" I asked leaning my head against the wall, forcing a knot down in my throat and closing my eyes. "It's not hard to figure out why you're here. You're here to kill me. Did Pierce send you? It makes the most sense. He probably doesn't like the fact that I'm nice to you whenever I take care of you or that I object to you having your mind wiped. Can I ask you something?"_

_Silence._

_I continued. "Could you say something to me? I've known you over four years and you've never said a word. Believe it or not, I've come to care about you soldier. I don't see you as just some weapon. I see you as a person. That's because you are… would a please help?"_

"_Who are you?" A voice demanded right next to me, making me jump about three feet into the air from freight. The Winter Soldier towered over me. How had I not heard him?_

"_My name is Annabeth Drew. I'm your doctor, technician, caretaker-after-mission type thing. You don't remember me?"_

"_No."_

_I sighed. "They wiped your mind before sending you to kill me. Naturally. HYDRA can go to hell," I grumbled. I looked up at him curiously. "Why _haven't _you killed me?"_

"_Orders."_

"_You haven't been ordered to kill me?"_

"_I was ordered to make a choice on whether to kill you or not."_

"_Pierce?" The soldier remained silent, giving me the answer I needed. "To be honest, I should be petrified right now because you're this master assassin that's been frozen and unfrozen when needed, but in the four years I've known you, while the meetings were brief, I was the only doctor you allowed to come near you. Don't ask me why, I don't know. But I'm honored. Listen, are you hungry? I'm starved. How about I make us some food? And by food I mean a big bowl of ice cream. You in?" He stayed predictively silent. I smiled and set my gun down. If he decided to kill me, there would be no measures I could take that would prevent him from succeeding. "Do you mind if I sing? While I make the ice cream I mean. I get the feeling you won't be saying anything anymore." Laed him back into the kitchen. He stood next to the table while I started making the bowls of ice cream and singing along to _"It's Been A Long, Long Time." _I made two bowls, not knowing if he would actually eat his. What did he eat? How long would he go without eating? Maybe he didn't eat because of Arnim Zola's experiments. I placed his bowl in front of him and sat down to eat mine. The Winter Soldier hesitated before sitting down, but he didn't touch his bowl of ice cream. We sat in silence, listening to the music on my iPod. I didn't say anything; he didn't say anything. I finished my bowl of ice cream, washed the bowl in the sink, and walked up to him._

"_I think I'm going to turn in for the night. So if you've made your decision, now would be a good time to do it," I said, biting my lip. The Winter Soldier stood up and grabbed his gun. My eyes closed, my heart pounded. I was going to die at twenty-two years old. Now that honestly sucked. I started saying goodbye to my parents mentally, hoping they would be okay._

_I waited for the bullet, for the signature sound of a gun being shot, but no sound came._

_Opening my eyes, I saw the Winter Soldier staring at me. "You're not going to…?" He shook his head. I smiled. "Thank you." I started walking away, but I turned around and faced him again. Hesitantly, I placed my hand on his cheek. I wanted so badly to tell him who he was, where he came from, but knew it was a stupid idea. This soldier, disregarding the fact he'd chosen to save my life, was still a loose a cannon. I couldn't tell him who he was. Not yet. I'd have to find a different time._

"_Be careful, okay?" I said. "I'll see you again."_

_With one last smile, I went to my room. I took a shower and changed into some comfy pajamas. When I got out, I went to the kitchen to turn out the lights. The dishes could wait until tomorrow. But just as I was about to turn the light out, something caught my attention._

_The Winter Soldier's ice cream bowl._

_It was empty._

_He'd actually eaten it._

_A burst of laughter escaped my lips. This was progress. If I could get a master assassin who had no memory of who I was to not kill me _and _to eat, then who knows what I could accomplish with him! I had the ability to help him regain his memory about who he was and _everything_!_

"_You have work to do Annabeth," I thought._

_With that, I turned out the light._

**I'm sorry this took so long to post! I got really distracted by Tumblr and made a ridiculously sad post about Captain America… if you're interested in seeing what it is, go onto avengersassemble502 . tumblr. com (obviously no spaces) and trust me, you'll be able to tell which one it is. It's when Steve was in the first avenger. It should be easy to figure out from there. Anyways, please review! :) The flashbacks are almost over :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Have fun!**

** Chapter Quote:  
**"**You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time..."  
****~Alexander Pierce in **_**Captain America: The Winter Soldier**_

* * *

Chapter 6

_Another three years passed; I'd worked on the Winter Soldier six times during that period. It was the middle of October when I was summoned by Pierce to go take care of the Winter Soldier. Funny, considering I'd checked him out a week ago. It was strange to me that they'd sent him on a mission so soon after his last one. It didn't make sense, but my excitement over getting to see him again overruled my conscience which was telling me something was wrong. Rumlow escorted me to the building. He seemed anxious. He kept fidgeting, prompting me to finally demand, "What's a matter with you?"_

"_Nothing," he replied, but his fidgeting ceased instantly._

"_Sure. Nothing," I muttered, looking out the window. When we arrived, I went down to the secret basement deep underground with Rumlow. There were no instructions to be needed; I knew what to do. I went straight into the room where the Winter Soldier was located._

"_Hello Soldier, my name is Annabeth Drew. I'm here to take care of you. Do you mind if I do so?" He shook his head. "Wonderful. I'm going to run basic logistics on your arm, see if there's anything damaged in it so I can repair it and I'm also going to make sure you aren't shot or have debris shredding your back like this one time I took care of you. Now _that_ was not a fun day for either of us. Do you mind if I sing while I work? It helps me focus." Silence met my ears so I assumed it was okay. So, humming _"If I Die Young," _I got to work. Surprisingly, his physical body didn't have much damage, just a few bruises. It was his metal arm that had the issues. Somehow, the wires had gotten all tangled up which was causing him almost full immobility. He could move it up and down but that was the extent of it; he couldn't move his wrist, he couldn't bend his arm at all, he couldn't move it forwards and backwards, and more. The Winter Soldier remained utterly still, and every time I looked at him, it was as if he'd never changed where he was looking: straight ahead. But I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me._

_A few seconds later, I heard the door open to the lab. I'd been setting down some pliers (there was a metal scrap lodged in his arm; how it got there, I don't want to know) when the gunshot rang out. I knew exactly who it was for but I had no time to react. I prayed it would be a quick death, but knowing HYDRA, they'd want me to suffer. Pain tore through my shoulder; a scream erupted from my throat. I bent down, black spots dotting my vision. A second gunshot blasted just as metal flashed in front of me. The sound of metal going into metal made me cringe. I looked up. The Winter Soldier had his arm extended in front of me, protecting the part of my body where the bullet had been supposed to go._

_My head._

_Pierce strode in. I glanced over at him before turning back to the soldier. "Thank you," I said._

"_Grab her," Pierce ordered. Strong arms grasped around my shoulders and waist. I started screaming and kicking, anything to get out of the grasp. The Secretary of S.H.I.E.L.D. walked up to me. His hand cracked across my face, causing my whole body to jerk to the side from the impact. I gasped. "Shut up," he commanded. Pierce turned around and went to the Winter Soldier. "All right, this has gone on long enough. Miss Drew will no longer be taking care of you. And, if you decide to harm any other doctors who take care of you, we'll kill her. Understood?" The Winter Soldier nodded. "Good. Take her out of here."_

"_No!" I protested loudly, thrashing my legs out even though the movement caused the pain in my arm to increase a tenfold. I started swearing in French, then in Russian. The guards were actually having a difficult time getting me out of there._

_It suddenly dawned on me that this was probably the last time I'd ever see the Winter Soldier so I told him, still speaking Russian, "Soldier, you're my mission. And I'll finish it. So when you're ready to know who you are, come find me! I'll help you remember!"_

"_What is she saying?" Pierce demanded._

"_Tell him I'm swearing at him and everyone else!" I shouted, still speaking Russian._

_The Winter Soldier's eyes flitted between me and Pierce before landing on the S.H.I.E.L.D. secretary and saying, "She's swearing."_

"_What exactly is she saying?"_

"_I'm going to kill all of you, you mother-" I was cut off by Rumlow clapping his hand over my mouth._

"_That's what she's saying," the soldier said._

_Pierce laughed. "I'd like to see her try."_

_With that, I was dragged out of the room permanently and into another one. It was a security room. I was strapped to a chair as a doctor came in. He took off my jacket and started removing the bullet from my shoulder (without using any pain killers naturally)._

_Pierce sat in front of me and asked, "Do you know why you're here, Miss Drew?"_

"_Because I treated him like a human being and not a damn _thing_ like you?" I snapped._

"_Fiery. That gets you places in the world. No, I took you away from him because for some reason, you have developed an influence over him, brainwashed or not."_

"_Oh please, the only time he's ever even spoken to me was when you sent him to assassinate me."_

"_Which you talked him out of. And I gave him the choice of what to do."_

"_Because it served one of your heinous purposes. So what did it help you decide to do?" I sneered._

"_It proved to me just how much you hold power over him, and how interested he is in you."_

"_What interest are you talking about? The only time he's ever looked at me is when he was in my apartment."_

"_Show her the footage," Pierce directed. One of the guards pulled up a video. I recognized it as the first time I ever worked on the Winter Soldier. At first, there was nothing, not to my surprise. But as the video went on, I observed something I'd never seen before._

The Winter Soldier was watching me.

_Every move I made, he watched, and right before I would turn to look down at him, he would hurriedly shift his gaze to straight ahead, as if he'd never been watching me. I was shown footage of all the times I'd taken care of him, and each time, the Winter Soldier seemed to be more and more interested in watching what I was doing. How had I never caught this?_

"_You see? He does have an interest in you, and one I need to stop if I am to accomplish what I want. So Miss Drew, this is what you're going to do. You will not be working on the Winter Soldier anymore. You will be working as my secretary so I can keep my eye on you. You will not breathe a word about this to anyone. I will come up with a good cover story as to why I have chosen such a young woman as yourself to be my secretary because that will cause a stir in the media. And you will go along with whatever I say. Everything I tell you to do, you will do it, unless you want to watch the Winter Soldier be brainwashed and tortured right before your eyes. Oh yes," he snarled, "I know that's worse than death to you. Death would be an easy way out for you. So go home, get some rest, and never speak a word about any of this to anyone. Ever. Got it?" I nodded. Pierce slapped me. "I want a verbal yes."_

"_Yes, _sir_," I replied, feeling my lip curl._

"_Good girl. Rumlow, take her home." Rumlow took me by the arm and led me out of the building. I remained stubbornly silent the entire trip back to my flat. As I was unlocking my door, Rumlow said, "Are you okay?"_

_I didn't look at him. "Why wouldn't I be? Just got told that the mission I'd sworn I'd finish, I can't work on anymore. I got beat around by the secretary of S.H.I.E.L.D., I got shot, and not to mention that the one person I actually care for in HYDRA lost his one good ally, the one person that would actually treat him like a human being."_

"_He's an assassin and nothing more" Rumlow stated._

_I whirled on him. "An assassin is _what _he is, not _who_ he is."_

"_And you would know who he is?"_

"_Maybe I do, maybe I don't, but remember this: The Winter Soldier was my mission. He still is my mission. And I have every intention of finishing that mission."_

"_How do you plan on doing that?"_

_I smiled before punching him in the head with every force I could muster from my body, and considering how pissed I was? That was a lot of force. So much that it knocked him unconscious._

"_You want to know my plan on doing that? My plan is to get James Buchanan Barnes out of HYDRA and help him remember who he is. That's how you son of a bitch."_

* * *

_**Three years later…**_

_That punch I landed on Rumlow's face had broken my hand if you're wondering how a girl my size was able to punch a man of his size out. I'd made up some lie that I'd been dancing around my kitchen and flung my hand so hard into my granite countertops that that's how I broke my hand. I wasn't sure if the doctor bought the story or not, but it didn't matter. He didn't prod._

_With me becoming Pierce's secretary, it caused the equivalent of a hurricane in the media. A "pretty twenty-five year old" who "possibly was having illicit affairs with the secretary of S.H.I.E.L.D. for her own personal gain." That's how I was described. I and Secretary Pierce (he's good for one thing) both made it extremely clear that I was his secretary because I'd worked with the organization a long time, I'd been under his recruitment program for "bright young minds," I'd exceeded all expectations among my supervisors, and I was a hard-working, dedicated employee who deserved the spot I was given. So, for the next three years, I worked as Pierce's secretary, handling phone calls, meetings, agendas, letters, travelling with him to board meetings and the likes. But I hated every second of it. At least when I'd gotten to work with the Winter Soldier, I'd looked forward to the next day, because the next day always brought the possibility that I could see him again, the possibility that I could break him out of his HYDRA prison. Working for Pierce? I dreaded each tomorrow. Because each tomorrow meant I would have to look at that lying son of a bitch's face, that it meant one more day I couldn't help the Winter Soldier. It made me sick._

_I still saw the Winter Soldier periodically, but instead of taking care of him, I was watching him being taken care of by others with me on my knees and gun to my head. Pierce wanted the Winter Soldier to know who was in charge and that like him, I was just a puppet in Pierce's game and that I couldn't do anything for him. At least I never had to see him get brainwashed. I'm pretty sure I might actually murder someone for that._

_The soldier never made eye contact with me. For once, I didn't mind. I didn't want him to look at me, ask me for help, and receive a no. Because in my position, what could I do? I'd let him down already. I didn't want to do that again. And his missions, none of them were in D.C. anymore. They were anywhere _but_ D.C. I wondered why but knew I wouldn't get an answer._

_Today had been busy. Pierce's meeting with the World Security Council, then Fury needed to talk to him, and then there was all the other stuff I had to do which I'd rather not talk about because I hate it. But now, it was my lunch break. I alerted Pierce I was going to go grab some lunch and left. Switching into flats and putting my heels into my purse (it can hold a lot), I started walking in downtown D.C. The day was surprisingly cool. I was glad I had a jacket with me._

_Downtown wasn't too busy, a good thing considering it meant the lunch lines everywhere would be shorter. I was walking down one of the less crowded streets, not really paying attention until I heard what sounded like multiple machine guns a few blocks over. Screaming ensued. I started to run towards the location but skidded to a stop when I saw the Winter Soldier standing in the middle of the intersection, some sort of gun hanging at his side. He was staring down the road. As I started running to the intersection, he slowly raised the gun and shot it. It wasn't a bullet, but some sort of… round device? An explosion knocked me to the ground. I sat up in a dazed state. A black SUV, definitely a S.H.I.E.L.D. one, was upside down, wheels still spinning. The Winter Soldier strode up to it, taking his own sweet time. He walked with a manner of saying that he didn't care if his prey got away. He would still find them. They could run, but they couldn't hide. The soldier tore away the driver's side door. No one was there. How that was possible, I don't know, but since it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. car, I decided whoever was driving it was very fast at finding an escape route. I stood up and brushed myself off. People were still screaming around me. In fact, I was the only one who seemed calm. Police sirens wailed in the distance, but my focus remained on the Winter Soldier. He turned my direction, but I couldn't tell if he was looking at me or not. He had a mask covering his eyes and mouth. But the way he cocked his head slightly and how he began walking towards me, I had a feeling he saw me. I had a feeling something about seeing me struck something in him. Hopefully it wasn't some murderous tendency._

_But his attention switched when a new vehicle pulled up next to him. He got in without any hesitation. My nostrils flared at the sight of Rumlow sitting inside there. He didn't see me, probably a good thing._

_However, now my appetite was gone. After what I'd just witnessed there was no way I could eat. Instead, I headed back to S.H.I.E.L.D. I had to figure out what I was going to do now that I knew the Winter Soldier was back in D.C. I had to get him out of there. But once again, my main obstacle was how? Pierce kept the guy under lock and key (and ice). How was I going to break him out?_

"_You have to figure out a way," I thought to myself. "You don't have an option. He's your mission. So finish it."_

* * *

_It was the day before the helicarrier launch. Pierce gave me the day off (strangely enough). You would think he'd have me be there for last minute preparations but he insisted it was fine. I knew better than to argue. I threw on some black skinny jeans and a tank top and left my flat in search of some much needed hot cocoa powder so I could make my "brownie in a mug" when I got hungry later. Swiss Miss worked best. For some unknown reason, other brands didn't. I literally hadn't even set one foot out of my building when I was blocked by two men that had muscles bigger than tanks, automatically causing me to nickname them Tank One and Tank Two in my head._

"_Come with us," Tank One ordered. "Pierce's orders._

_I groaned but followed. They took me to the last building I'd gone to when the Winter Soldier had been in D.C. I was escorted there and down. Tank Two pinned my arms behind my back and pushed me to the lab. Scientists and doctors swarmed the place. The Winter Soldier sat in the middle, staring blankly into space. As one doctor moved towards him, the soldier flipped, throwing the closest doctor away from him. Instantly guards had guns pointed at him. He went back to sitting still, but his chest rose up and down. Something other than adrenaline was coursing through him._

_At that moment, Pierce swaggered in with Rumlow tailing him. The latter gave me a smile which I promptly returned with a death glare. He quickly looked away. Pierce stood in front of the Winter Soldier and demanded, "Mission report." The soldier remained steadfastly silent, causing Pierce to repeat, "Mission report, now."_

_When the soldier still didn't say anything, Pierce braced himself on his knees, stared at his "asset" for a few seconds, and then slapped the fire out of him._

"_Don't hurt him!" I cried out. Tank One clapped a hand over my mouth. I tried to bite him but that wasn't going so hot._

_The Winter Soldier turned back to face Pierce, met his gaze, and said, "That man on the bridge. Who was he?"_

Oh my god…_ I thought. He's remembering something. I wanted to scream from happiness but a hand over my mouth prevented me from doing so._

"_You met him earlier this week on another assignment," Pierce explained, taking a chair and sitting down._

"_I knew him," the Winter Soldier said._

"_Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. And tomorrow morning we're going to give it a push. But if you don't do your part, I can't do mine," Pierce said. I was about ready to strangle him at this point. Slowly, intimately, and without mercy. "And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."_

_The soldier looked directly at the secretary of S.H.I.E.L.D. as he replied with a small smile, "But I knew him."_

_Pierce actually seemed stunned for a moment. His "asset" was changing, was acting like a person. That wouldn't do for him, so, standing up, he commanded, "Prep him."_

"_He's been out of cryo for too long," a scientist noted. A slight change crossed over the Winter Soldier's face; he knew what was coming. Unfortunately, I didn't and there was nothing to prepare me for it._

"_Then wipe him," Pierce answered. "And start over."_

_I slammed my foot into Tank Two's shin, causing enough pain and shock for me to get his hand off my mouth. "You monster!" I screamed at Pierce. "No! Don't do it to him! Bucky!"_

_I was dragged out of the lab, but not before I saw the first stages of the mind-wiping begin and not before I heard the soldier's horrific screams. Someone knocked me on the back of the hand, effectively knocking me out._

_When I woke up, I was back in my flat. My head pounded from the hit it received. I looked over at my clock and it read five in the morning. How long had I been asleep?! I scrambled up, took a shower, and got ready for work. Pierce already wanted to kill me. No need to give him any more reasons. I threw on a slimming black dress and some sling-back pumps before rushing out the door. I managed to get to the Triskelion only ten minutes late. Not too bad considering the time I had. But as soon as I walked inside the door, terror crashed over me. Pierce was down there with the members of the World Security Council._

_That meant today was the day of the helicarrier launch._

_Today was when twenty million people would be losing their lives._

_I slipped away to another elevator, and barely got to my desk before Pierce and the council members arrived. My boss nodded his head at me in acknowledgement, acting as if nothing had gone wrong yesterday. I nodded back stiffly, feeling like a coward for not being able to stand up to him and make it known to the world what the assbutt was doing, but I was a nobody in the world. I couldn't do it. Not yet._

_I waited impatiently for the launch, wondering who and who wasn't on that list. I knew Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Dr. Banner were on it. They made sense considering who they were. _

_At that moment, I received a message, an urgent one that I needed to give to Pierce. It was going to suck interrupting the meeting but unfortunately, waiting wasn't an option. I knocked politely and walked in. Pierce was surrounded by the world council members. Pierce looked at me and was about to say something when: "Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the past few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was; it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader."_

_Pierce had started walking around, and the world security council members gave him disgusted looks along with me. Served the bastard right to finally be figured out._

_Captain America continued. "The Strike and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. We don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. The price of freedom is high, always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. If I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."_

_Silence ensued for a brief second before Rockwell said, "You smug son of a bitch."_

_Right then, the Strike team, with the exception of Rumlow, walked in. One of them purposefully bumped into me and it took all my willpower not to kick him where the sun don't shine._

"_Arrest him," Singh ordered. One of the Strike team's men pulled a gun on him._

"_Well I guess I've got the floor," Pierce said. "Miss Drew, stand with them."_

_I did what I was ordered to do. He started walking around. I watched him carefully, once in a while glancing over at the council members. At one point, I made eye contact with council member Hawley. I mouthed "I'm sorry" to her to which she mouthed back, "You didn't know?"_

_I whispered, barely audible, that I knew, but that I worked for him against my will. Pierce was too busy watching the launch of the helicarriers to realize Hawley and I were talking._

"_Be ready," Hawley told me. I didn't question her, although I really wanted to._

"_Let me ask you a question," Pierce said, walking towards his desk and grabbing two champagne glasses. "What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were gonna drag your daughters into a soccer stadium. For execution." Pierce handed a champagne glass to Singh. "And you could stop it, with a flick of the switch. Would you? Wouldn't you all?"_

"_Not if it was your switch," Singh responded before tossing his glass to the side. Pierce let out a chuckle and a Strike team member handed him a gun which he pointed directly at Singh. Suddenly, Hawley kicked Singh out of the way, grabbed Pierce and punched him. She proceeded to disarm the remaining guards in the room. In all the chaos, I took my opportunity to punch Pierce, but I wanted to make sure I didn't knock him out, so I hit him in the jaw. A tide of happiness, the first I felt in years, washed over me. Pierce was too stunned to realize what I'd done. He stood speechless, staring at Hawley who held a gun at pointed at him._

_Pressing a button on the side of her head, she said, "I'm sorry." She pulled off her _face_ and a wig, revealing a completely new person. Natasha Romanoff. "Did I step on your moment?" She turned to me and said, "Go. Get out of here."_

_I nodded and dashed out of there. I took out a flashdrive and downloaded all my files onto it, including all of HYDRAs dirty work, off my computer. This was my chance to help take them down, and like hell I wasn't going to take the opportunity. _

_It took five minutes. The beauty of fast computers. Once finished, I attached the flash drive to a lanyard and threw it around my neck. After grabbing a gun, I ran out to the hallway so I could get out of the building. Captain America was here. That meant Pierce had sent the Winter Soldier after him. It made sense to me that he would. Chaos was going to ensue. It already was. The helicarriers had been firing their guns at someone in a winged suit. I think his name was Sam Wilson. But that didn't matter. I had to get out of this building. It wasn't going to be here much longer because some of the people the helicarrier was targeting were in this building. Hell, I was probably one of them._

_By now, the alarm was blaring, telling all agents to get out of the building unless they wanted to get hurt (or die). Guns shots rang out in the hallway next to me. I peered around._

_Rumlow._

_He wouldn't hesitate to shoot me. I had to get around him somehow. He started talking into his microphone. Only thing I heard was that he was headed up because the council had been breached. I started walking when I bumped into a man._

"_Rumlow. Where is he?" he asked._

"_He's heading up to the council room. Turn around, go to the first security door on your right and type in 'hail hydra' in the computer. It will reveal an elevator that will bring you up to the forty first floor. Once there, go to the second door on your right. That's where Rumlow will exit. Kick his ass," I said._

"_Thank you." The man ran back down the hall. I went the opposite way, to the stairwell Rumlow had taken. I took a few shots at him, backing myself against a wall before he could see who I was. It stalled him just long enough that I felt positive the mystery man had made it to the forty first floor before Rumlow. I ran all the way down the stairs and outside. Explosions above me made my lift my head to lookup. The helicarriers were firing on themselves, one already plummeting towards the bridge I was standing on._

"_Oh shit!" I exclaimed, making a run for the end of the bridge. The shadow loomed over me and just as I reached my destination, the helicarrier crashed onto the bridge, knocking me off my feet. A guy ran over to me and dragged me away. I didn't know who it was but I muttered a thank you._

"_You all right miss?" he asked._

"_Yes, sir," I replied. "Thank you for helping me."_

"_No problem. Hey, aren't you Pierce's secretary?"_

"_Used to be. That HYDRA loving asshole is dead, thank god. Why?" I looked up. A member of the SWAT team stood in front of me, his eyes wide._

"_HYDRA?" he said._

"_HYDRA," I confirmed._

"_And you knew?"_

"_Yes, but I worked for him against my will."_

"… _Be that as it may, I still have to take you into custody. Come on."_

_I sighed. Even in death, Pierce was still screwing me over. The SWAT member led me to his boss, a hulking six-foot one man that skewered me with his glare. He obviously recognized me and didn't like me. A few words were exchanged between my guy and his boss and I was led away to a cop car._

_Well hell…_

* * *

**Long chapter, huh? That's actually the end of the flashbacks! So next chapter is in real time and that's when the real fun begins! Review please :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Now the fun begins :)**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**I'm with you 'til the end of the line."  
****~Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes**

* * *

Chapter 7

**Steve**

"After that, you can guess what happened seeing as how I'm here now," Annabeth remarked, her eyes flitting between me and Sam. When neither of us said anything, she added, "Well, at least you didn't laugh like the other people did."

"People laughed at you?" I asked.

"Yeah. They didn't think I was telling the truth. I mean, a lot of stuff happened but I told you only the relevant stuff, the stuff that pertained to the Winter Soldier."

"It was you!" Sam suddenly exclaimed. She and I both looked at him. "I was the one searching for Rumlow. You told me how to find him!"

"Oh my god, that _was_ you! Please tell me you kicked his ass for me?" Annabeth replied hopefully.

"Uh, honestly, he was getting the better of me. But I'm not the one who got taken out by a helicarrier, unlike him, so karma hit him pretty hard."

"There's a god," Annabeth laughed.

"Bucky remembers you. He used your line," I said.

"What line?"

"'You're my mission.' That's what he told me when we were on the helicarrier. He got that from you."

She smiled slightly. "What did you say?"

"I told him to finish it because I was with him 'til the end of the line. The latter part had been something he told me way back when. But never mind that. Thank you for taking care of Bucky as much as you could, I appreciate it."

"So… you guys believe me?" Annabeth asked hesitantly.

"You're talking to a guy that saved the world from aliens and is friends with a god and to another man who flies with a winged suit. Your story is not the craziest thing out there… although it hits near the top," Sam said.

Annabeth grinned. "Thank you. I think."

"Do you think you can help us track him down?" I queried.

"It'll be hard to do it from inside the prison, but yes, I can. I'll need access to a computer though," she said.

"I didn't mean you help us from inside the prison," I replied.

She gave me a cautious look. "You mean…?"

"You'd help us outside. Travel with us. But there'd be rules. You stay with me and Sam at all times. If you leave the apartment, one of us has to go with you. Understood?"

"Completely, but uh, do you think the prison will allow it?"

"I'll talk to them. In the meantime, go pack up. I'll have Sam stay with you. We'll leave when you're ready."

"Yes, Captain."

"Please, call me Steve," I insisted, giving her a smile. She returned it and got up. Sam followed her while I went to talk to the head of the prison.

* * *

**Annabeth**

Two weeks passed, and we had nothing. I'd been able to show Steve and Sam the videos I had downloaded onto the flashdrive I'd taken the day S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen to prove to them my story had been true and to access files on all the locations the Winter Soldier had been. Steve was familiar to the Winter Soldier, so would the soldier go look for other things that he found familiar to help jog his memory?

Well, we'd tried that method, and everywhere we went, all the answers we got were 'no' and 'can I have your autograph Captain? Falcon?' and then I also overheard some things that are inappropriate to repeat. Thankfully Steve and Sam didn't hear them though…

We started early today, and I was starving, so I asked Steve and Sam if they were game to eat breakfast at this little breakfast diner across near the Smithsonian. They agreed, which probably had something to do with them going a little stir-crazy from being trapped in Sam's house twenty-four-seven. The three of us got into Sam's car and parked nearby and chose to eat outside. Steve ate a huge breakfast. Sam wasn't far behind. And I thought _I _was eating a lot by having six pieces of bacon and two pancakes…

The two boys, after having downed three or four cups of coffee, quickly decided they needed the bathroom before they left, so while I waited for our waiter to drop off the check, I watched the people pass our table. It was always interesting to people watch. There was a man playing the trumpet across the way that I decided I was going to tip before we left. An old man walked past me with a shirt that said "If lost, return to Mary." A few seconds later, an old woman jogged past me. Her shirt read "I'm Mary." I couldn't help but laugh. Another man walked by in jeans, a jacket, and a baseball cap. Strange considering how hot it was outside. He kept his head down, but since he walked right past me, I got a good look. My mouth dropped open. Just as I was hopping the fence that separated the diner from the sidewalk, our waiter came out with the check. Hurriedly I said, "My two friends will pay for it. Tell them I think I found him and he's heading towards the Smithsonian. They'll understand. Thank you!"

I followed the man, making sure I kept my distance so that he would suspect anything. He turned around repeatedly and I acted like I was on my phone. The soldier bought it. I followed him all the way to the Smithsonian and inside it. He led me to the exhibit on Captain America. And it made sense. Why I hadn't thought of it before, I don't know. But what better place can someone learn about themselves than an exhibit _on_ them?

Predictably, the soldier went straight to James Buchanan Barnes' panel. He stood there for ages, making it clear he wasn't going to leave any time soon. Taking a deep breath, I walked up next to him and started reading the information. I looked up at him when I was finished; he looked away. When I turned back towards the panel, so did he.

"You don't have to hide from me soldier. I know who you are," I whispered. This time, he did look at me.

"Who are you?" he demanded quietly.

"My name is Annabeth Drew. I took care of you while you were the Winter Soldier." He grabbed my hand, dragging me somewhere I didn't know. He slipped us into a utility closet, locking us in from the inside so no one could accidentally come in on us.

"How do I know you? Did you do this to me?!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Do what?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows.

"Wipe my memories!"

"No!" I protested. "I had nothing to do with that. In fact I fought against as much as I could but Pierce kept me in check. I couldn't do anything. I only saw it happen to you one time and it killed me to watch soldier, even if I only saw a few seconds of it. No, what I did was fix you up after missions, both your body and your arm. I would sing while I did so, because you weren't much of a talker. I wanted to get you out of there, soldier. You were my mission. I wanted to finish it."

Unless I was mistaken, a flicker of recognition crossed his eyes. "Are you the one that told me to come to you when I wanted to find out who I was?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that was me."

"Then it's time. I want to find out who I am. But I don't want to do it here. You're not alone, are you?"

"No, soldier, I'm not. I'm here with Sam Wilson, and your best friend, Steve. Why don't you go see him? Do you know how excited and relieved he'd be to see you?"

"No! Not yet! I'm not ready to see him. I… I want to figure out who I am first. I want to figure out how I know him before I see him," the soldier argued.

"But I can't leave them! I promised them I wouldn't leave their sight!"

"Then looks like our deal is off. I'll figure it out on my own," he grumbled, beginning to head out the door.

"Wait," I said. "I told them I'd stay with them, but I made a promise before that to help you. That promise overrides the one I made to them, so lead the way to where you want to go. I'm with you soldier. Wherever you want to go, I'll go too."

He stared at me. "You'd really do that?"

"Yes I would," I replied without hesitation. His face softened up a little bit. He held out his hand for me to take and said, "Don't let go."

I nodded as we left the utility closet. We maneuvered our way back outside the Smithsonian. The Winter Soldier informed me he had a truck a few blocks away and that's where we were headed. I told him that I needed to stop by Sam's house to get my laptop and flashdrive because it had information that would help him remember. He was reluctant about it but agreed. The two of us ran down the steps hand in hand when, "Annabeth!"

I turned around. Sam was finagling his way over to us.

"Who's that?" Soldier asked.

"That's Sam, Steve's friend," I explained.

"Annabeth, did you-" Sam began. "I see you did."

"Sam, this is the Winter Soldier. Soldier, this is Sam," I introduced before adding, "Uh, Sam, I have to go, okay? I'm really, really sorry but this is the only way I can help."

"What? No, come on, you have to stay until Steve gets back."

"No, I'm not staying and neither is she. I need her help," Soldier retorted.

"I don't know you really well dude except that you like to rip things away from me, like steering wheels and wings, but-" Sam was cut off by the Winter Soldier punching him.

"Sam!" I exclaimed, attempting to drop down to check on him, but the Winter Soldier was already pulling me away.

"Come on!" he urged. I hated to leave Sam on the steps but my desire to help my old patient overruled and I followed him, although I kept looking back to see if Sam had gotten up. The crowds blocked my view though and I couldn't.

He took me to his truck five blocks away. When we got in, I was huffing and puffing. I instructed him on how to get to Sam's house. I figured we wouldn't have more than five minutes to get everything I needed. I was going to take my makeup bag and some clothes. The soldier offered to get my laptop and flashdrive while I gathered everything else. Since everything was in my room, I trusted him to do so. The drive took ten minutes, and we were in and out of Sam's house in three. I wrote a note to Steve saying that I was fine, I was with the Winter Soldier, and that I was terribly sorry for leaving but that helping the soldier was the most important thing to me. I hoped he'd understand but too bad if he didn't.

We got back in the soldier's truck and drove off. Turning around, I saw Sam's new car pulling onto the street just as we were turning off. I prayed they didn't follow us. Luck was on our side and they didn't. I leaned back in the seat, letting out a deep breath.

"So, what have you been doing these past two weeks? We haven't been able to trace you at all," I said.

"I've been finding a place to hide out, one that has electricity but is still remote."

"I'm assuming you found a place?"

"An old S.H.I.E.L.D. hideout. It's not used anymore, but it has electricity, running water, a kitchen, bedrooms, the works. Plenty of escape routes if needed."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know the name of the town nearby, but it's under four hours away from here."

"Got it…" The two of us fell silent. It wasn't an awkward silence, but it wasn't necessarily comfortable either. I'd finally been given the chance to help him and I was at a loss for words. Maybe I was too shocked to hear him talking to me. After only having him utter a couple sentences to me in the past ten years, this was rather shocking. But then I thought, calling him the Winter Soldier was a mouthful, and that wasn't who he was anymore, so I asked, "What would you like me to call you?"

"What do you mean?" he looked over briefly at me.

"You're the Winter Soldier, but that's not _who_ you are. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes, but your friends call you Bucky. What would you like me to call you?"

"What do the people around you call me?"

"The only person that doesn't call you the Winter Soldier that knows you is Steve, and he calls you Bucky."

"Then call me that too."

"All right," I said, smiling. "Bucky it is."

We stopped talking again, and I looked out the window. The sound of the engine and the vibration from the truck lulled me into a light sleep. I was vaguely away of Bucky putting on the stereo quietly. It was music from the forties. At one point, a familiar song started playing, and I sang along quietly: "So kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again. It's been a long, long time."

"You know this song?" Bucky queried.

"I sang it to you once. In fact, it was the first song I sang to you after I found out who you really were. I learned it quickly. It's one of my favorites now."

"I wish I could remember that," he muttered.

"Maybe you will. Can I ask you something?"

"Why are you asking if you can ask me something?"

I gave him a curious expression. "Because it's the polite thing to do, and I don't want to make you feel like you have to give me an answer."

"It's weird, not having people demand things from me, having someone give me a choice." He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "But yeah, you can ask me whatever you'd like."

"Do you really remember me? Or did you just believe me when I said I knew you?"

"I remembered your words and the way you treated me, but I didn't remember your face. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. I'm here to help you."

"Why did you agree to take care of me?"

"I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Pierce gave me the project, and I didn't know he was working for HYDRA until after I agreed to do it. I didn't know the project was you."

"Could you have backed out?"

"No, and even if I could have, I wouldn't have."

"Why?"

"I couldn't leave you with those monsters."

"How long did you take care of me?"

"I started in 2004 and stopped in 2011."

"Why did you stop?"

"Pierce found out I had influence over you, and he had me present when you were getting fixed up, but only as a threat to you not to harm the scientists and doctors."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because I was the only doctor you would allow to come near you," I chuckled. "Don't ask me why, I don't know. But I'm glad you did."

"I… I vaguely remember that. You always started out talking to me the same way, didn't you?"

"Yes I did," I confirmed. "Since I don't know why you let only me come near you, do you?"

"I think it's because you looked petrified walking in the door. I could tell you were hiding it, and you did it well, but I still saw it." A small smile tugged on Bucky's lips. "And you asked me what I wanted. I think you shocked me into obeying more than anything else. But I remembered it. It was such a shock, I guess even with the brainwashing, I still remembered deep down."

"You want to know something? This is the most we've ever talked in ten years."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You spoke maybe two or three sentences and that was it. You were never one for conversation with me no matter how hard I tried, so that's why I always went to singing. Change of topic here, but where did you get this truck?" I hadn't noticed it at first, but it was really nice. The interior was black leather, it had navigation, a place to listen to your iPod, and heated seats.

"I think it was a HYDRA agents, Rumred, or Rumler, or something like that."

"Rumlow?"

"That's it. You knew him?"

"Unfortunately. Guy was an assbutt. Wow, this is a fancy iPod hook up."

"What's that?"

"An iPod? It's a device that holds music and you can listen to it anywhere you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When we get to the hideout, I'll show you."

"Deal. Speaking of, here we are," Bucky said, pulling off onto a hidden driveway. I hadn't even realized we were completely surrounded by a dense, dark forest. No wonder Steve, Sam, and I couldn't find him. He was living in the middle of nowhere. Literally. The driveway was about two miles long before it made a sharp left, revealing a massive ranch-style house, painted and designed to blend in with the surroundings. Bucky pulled the truck into the garage. We got out. He carried my duffel bag while I carried my backpack. He led me inside. He continued to take me to what would be my room.

"The rooms have everything you need: a bed, a bathroom with a tub and shower, nightstand, dresser, and desk. There's storage down in the basement along with a bomb shelter. We have tons of food down there but it's all the same so if you want to get anything let me know, and I'll drive you to the nearest store."

"Thank you," I said, setting my bags down. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You don't have to call me 'ma'am' you know. You can call me Annabeth or Anna," I remarked kindly.

He shifted uneasily on his feet. "I'll remember that."

"Why don't I make us some grilled cheese for lunch? And if you want, we can get started on helping you retrieve some of your memories."

"Annabeth, do you think I'll be able to remember them all?"

"I'm not sure to be honest, but whatever Zola did to you, it's prevented the brainwashing from working completely. It seems as if the brainwashing has just blocked you from accessing those memories rather than wiping them completely from your mind. Here, let me put it this way: each memory you have has a lock on it in your mind, and each lock has a special key that will help you unlock that specific memory. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. So you'll help me with those keys?"

"As many as I can. I can help you with most of your memories of the war, and I can help you remember your time with me, but the memories before the war, the ones before Steve became Captain America, you'll need him to help you remember those."

Bucky nodded. We headed towards the kitchen where I pulled out a loaf of bread and some cheese and butter. Meanwhile, Bucky opened my laptop and stared at it.

"This is a strange TV," he commented.

I bit back a smile, walking over to him. I logged in and pulled up his file, making sure he didn't see the files on his missions as the Winter Soldier. I didn't think he was ready for that yet. One day, he would be, but it was early in the process, and I thought it was best for him to remember the good things before he began remembering the bad.

"It's a computer, a laptop to be exact. You know the thing used to analyze the readings on your arm? That was a laptop too. Depending on what you need it for, it can do a lot of things. You can surf the internet, watch movies, play games, write papers and stories, waste time watching YouTube videos on cute animals and humans doing stupid things- there's an abundance of that- and a ton of other things."

Bucky stayed silent for about a minute before going, "What's the internet?"

I felt my mouth drop open slightly. HYDRA hadn't even bothered to teach him how to use modern technology, only modern warfare. I began explaining, and it took over two hours, three grilled cheese sandwiches (for him, just one for me), and a few near-laptop-breaking experiences before he finally understood the basics of the internet.

"We'll work on the other aspects of the laptop later," I said. "First let's get some of your memory working."

"Sounds like a plan."

I started cleaning up the kitchen. It was sort of dirty; whether that was from it not being in use for a while or because Bucky hadn't cleaned it, I didn't know, nor did I care. I was here now, and I was going to take care of this place _and _him, focusing more on the latter.

My thoughts wandered to how he actually had slight memories of me. Apparently saying the same things over and over again paid off. I guess it just always seemed familiar to him. The thought gave me an idea. "Hey, Bucky, would you agree with me that you remembered me because what I did and said was familiar to you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I have an idea. We don't have to do it straight away or anything, I'm just throwing it out here, but hear me out. While you look fantastic with the long hair, that's been your look as the Winter Soldier. If you look at your picture on the computer, you had short hair when you knew Steve. Maybe making yourself look the way you did back then would help unlock some of your memories from that time. What do you think?"

"That actually seems like a really good idea. We just have one problem."

"What's that?"

"It's going to be hard to hide my metal arm from everyone if I'm in a tee shirt." Bucky raised his arms to prove his point.

"You can wear a jacket, or I could go out and buy you some long sleeve shirts. But you know, this world has just found out that aliens exist, among other things. A metal arm isn't all that far-fetched. Plus I can say S.H.I.E.L.D. gave it to you after you lost your arm in battle."

"But why wouldn't they do it to everyone?"

"They didn't know if it would work? It's costly to maintain unless you have someone to do it for free? Which you do. You have me so it's no problem for you," I said. "I can come up with the lie. You would just have to go alone with it."

"I could do that."

"Tell me when you would like to go. I'll do anything."

"Would you want to go not tomorrow, but the day after? I want to get a sense of who I am first before I leave."

"Understandable. I'll find the closest town and make an appointment to get your haircut for say… ten in the morning? And maybe we can grab lunch and go shopping for some clothes for you so you don't have to wear everything S.H.I.E.L.D."

"All right."

"I'm going to go take a shower and change into different clothes. I have the feeling I won't be going out anywhere tonight so might as well make myself comfortable. I'll see you in a bit. I trust you, but try not to break my computer, okay?"

Bucky smiled sheepishly. "I'll try."

I left the kitchen and went upstairs. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked for text messages. In total, I had a hundred texts and ninety phone calls with fifty voicemails. All from Steve and Sam. I unlocked my phone and was in the middle of replying to Steve when my phone decided to die on me. I searched everywhere for my charger, but it was nowhere to be found. Then it dawned on me that I'd forgotten it at Sam's house. Cursing myself silently, I threw my phone on the bed and grabbed some clothes. I was going to be in so much trouble with them when we found each other again, but in all honesty, I was pretty sure Steve would understand me going with Bucky.

Bucky was my mission. I had to finish it.

* * *

**Such a long chapter again! I hope you enjoyed! You'll have a POV from Bucky next chapter :) Review?**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm so excited for this chapter because it's just a lot of fluff (mostly).**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**This isn't the age of spies. This is not even the age of heroes. This is the age of miracles... and there's nothing more horrifying than a miracle."  
****~Baron Wolfgang von Trucker**

* * *

Chapter 8

**Bucky**

Annabeth and I ended up getting trapped for a week inside the house due to rain. The driveway flooded and we couldn't get anywhere. It was a miracle our hideout didn't get any water. To pass time, she told me stories that she'd read about of me and Steve during the war. Sometimes I remembered them, sometimes I didn't. It was when I couldn't remember that I became angry and stressed. I should've scared her when I became like that. I was unpredictable when I was angry and stressed. But she refused to leave me, and somehow always managed to distract me from my thoughts, calming me down. Annabeth would be very subtle about it, but I noticed her tactics soon enough. The first time she did it, she called me over to watch something on her laptop. It was a video on this place called YouTube of these men in panda costumes wreaking havoc in Tokyo. I think they called themselves Jackass… nonetheless it was entertaining and calmed me down. Another time, she chose to grab a newspaper and roll it up. Curious, I asked her what she was doing, and she pointed to a spider on the wall. Apparently Annabeth is terrified of them. I offered to kill it for her which she gratefully accepted. You get the gist of what I'm getting at here.

It was still a gloomy morning, with a light drizzle going on outside, but it was clear enough that we could actually get out of here. Annabeth came downstairs in shorts and a tank top. I sat at the bar, drinking water.

"Good morning," she greeted.

"Morning."

"So I was searching for barbershops for you and I found one. It's not too far from here, and it has some shopping centers and diners. What do you say we go today? I checked the weather and supposedly it's going to clear up by the afternoon."

"Where's the town?"

"Althea. It's about twenty minutes from here."

"Do you know how to get there?"

"Sure do."

"All right." We left after Annabeth threw on a brown leather jacket. She got in the driver's seat and I got in the passengers. She hooked up her iPod, telling me I was the DJ for the ride there. I scrolled through her songs, hitting a random one.

"I love this song," Annabeth remarked.

"What song is it?" I asked.

"Sunday Afternoon by Rascal Flatts. They also happen to be one of my favorite groups."

"It's a good song," I agreed, listening to the tune. "What else do you like?"

"What do you mean?"

"What other things do you like? I've spent the past week with you and it's dawned on me that you seem to know everything about me but I hardly know anything about save for the things I've observed."

"There's not much to tell. I like music, particularly country and some of the older music from the forties and fifties, particularly Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Reading is my favorite pastime. I'd rather be reading a good book than going out to hang with friends. But you have me curious now. What have you observed about me?"

I shrugged. "Simple things really. You fidget a lot at night, telling me you're tired and the movement keeps you awake. You twirl your hair when you're focusing on something but you can't control what you're focusing on. Like when we're on your laptop, and I'm using it while you're sitting next to me, that's when you do it. And you're a deep but restless sleeper. You've slept through all the thunderstorms at night."

"There were thunderstorms during the night?" she queried, appearing genuinely surprised. "And how do you know I'm a restless sleeper?"

I smiled a little. "Yes there were, and I couldn't sleep during them. Your lamp was on one time, so I thought you were up. When I entered your room, your bed covers were practically on the floor and you were sprawled out on the bed, completely unaware of anything going on. I covered you back up and turned your light out and left, but that's how I figured out you're a restless sleeper."

"You kind of nailed all my quirks. I can't think of anything else to say. I'll add this to the list though. I've never had a boyfriend."

"You've never had a boyfriend?" I was rather shocked. I knew I'd been off the dating scene for a while, but enough memory came back to me to know that a girl like Annabeth never having a boyfriend was an anomaly.

"Yeah, I was too focused in high school to get into a good college to have a boyfriend and then all the guys in college that I liked were partiers or were jerks or were stupid. I don't mean to say I didn't party, but I never got so drunk that I couldn't stand up or that I was sick in a bathroom all night."

"So does that mean you've never been kissed or…?"

"Never been kissed either. I don't share that with a lot of people. I'm oblivious, but I'm not stupid. I don't want to sound conceited when I say I know guys find me attractive, and so people are always so shocked when I say I haven't been kissed and they look at me with pity and it pisses me off, so I just don't say anything about it. I'm not a girl that needs a guy. Sure, I'd love to have a boyfriend, but I don't need one. I'm willing to wait for the right guy. I'm sorry," she suddenly said, "I don't think you wanted to listen to me rant about my nonexistent love life. What about you? Did you have any special girls?"

"I think I had a few girls, but none that were really special to me. I think I would've remembered them by now if I had. And don't feel sorry. I want to know who you are, and never having a boyfriend is one of those things."

"More men need to be like you Bucky Barnes."

"Amnesiac assassins?" I suggested.

She snorted. "No, honest and accepting with a not so subtle side of sarcasm."

I smiled and looked out the window. We'd arrived at the town now. It was small and quaint. A few people were out and about walking. Annabeth parked the truck and we got out. I shoved my hands in my jacket pocket to avoid people seeing my metal arm.

I followed Annabeth down the sidewalk, keeping close to her. She seemed to know where she was going which was more than I could say. She led us to a barbershop at the end of the street. When we entered, no one was in there except for an elderly old man. He had to be in his eighties at the minimum.

"Hello, how may I help you?" he inquired kindly.

Annabeth smiled and said, "My friend here would like a haircut. We didn't make an appointment though."

"That's all right dear, I don't have any right now. Come sir, please, sit down," he said, motioning for me to sit in the chair. He threw a cape around me and pulled out a pair of scissors. The man started cutting and Annabeth made conversation with him.

"Have you always owned a barbershop or did you do something before this?" She questioned, sitting down in the vacant chair next to me.

"I was in the military most of my life. I fought in World War II in the one-o-seventh," he explained. I felt my heart start pounding. Annabeth's eyes widened but she caught her reaction and returned back to looking normal but intrigued.

"Didn't the one-o-seventh get captured at some point during the war?" she queried.

"Sure did. By HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division. Some of us were used as test subjects. Only one ever returned, and that was because Captain America saved us and him. In fact, I think the guy he rescued was his best friend. I never met his friend, and I only caught a glimpse of Cap, but I owe him my life."

"The war was brutal," I agreed, glancing down at my lap.

"Did you meet Peggy Carter?" Annabeth inquired.

"I did actually; first time I actually saw her was when I was in the room when she shot at Steve. He did something to tick her off. Howard Stark, Tony Stark's father, was practically cowering in the corner with a look of absolute shock. I laugh every time I think about his expression. Peggy was a firecracker. One of the best women in the war too. I started dating a private during the war, and she was acquaintances with Peggy." The man looked over at Annabeth. She was holding back a question, I could tell, and so could the barber. "If you're wondering miss, I did end up marrying that private." The old man smiled, a spark flaring in his eyes. "She was and still is the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on."

"That is so sweet," Annabeth said, smiling wistfully. "I hope one day, when I get married, that my husband is as in love with me as you are with your wife. What's her name?"

"Lorraine. Sweetest woman, although, I'll admit, she was quite the vixen back in the war.

"If you two don't have anywhere important to be and if you're willing to stay for another five minutes, you can meet her and my grandchildren. She's heading over here right now."

"Oh we'd love to, but we have some errands to run," Annabeth answered. "Thank you so much for the offer though!"

"Any time sweetie," the man said. After she paid him for the haircut, the two of us left in search of something to eat. Both of us were starving, something our growling stomachs could attest to. The waitress sat us in a booth in the back of the diner we chose. After handing us menus and asking what we'd like to drink, she left.

"What should I get?" I asked, staring at all the choices.

"Whatever you want. Besides, it's on me today," Annabeth responded, flipping the menus page.

"I can choose?"

An expression of confusion settled on her face. "Why couldn't you?"

"HYDRA always… chose for me."

"Oh god, I didn't think about that. Bucky, listen to me. You do _not_ have to ask my permission about what you want to order off the menu, what you want to buy, and more. You're a free man again. HYDRA doesn't make your choices for you anymore."

"Sorry," I said, looking back down at my menu, embarrassed.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I just… I don't know. I feel like I should be apologizing." Wanting to change the subject, I said quickly, "So do you know what you're getting?"

"I think I'm just going to get a bacon burger with avocado. You?"

"I can't decide between the ribs and the burger."

"Get both."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, and whatever you don't eat, you can have for lunch tomorrow. I'd say have it for dinner, but I wanted to make a good meal tonight."

"What's special about tonight?"

"Nothing, I just thought you'd want a homemade meal after seventy years, seeing as how we've been eating microwave dinners for the past week."

"Oh, well leftovers for lunch it is," I agreed, smiling. The waitress came back and took our orders. When the food came, I plowed through mine. Annabeth could barely finish hers. She let me eat the rest of it. I still was hungry, but I was feeling full at the same time so I convinced Annabeth to share a dessert with me. It was a hot fudge ice cream bar, and let me tell, it was one of the most delicious desserts I'd ever had. It had an ice cream sandwich on the bottom, a layer of whip cream, a layer of chocolate and peanut butter mixed together, and then a layer of nuts. Then, save for the ice cream sandwiches, the layers repeated. The waitress gave us a heaping serving. Of course, it wasn't the neatest dessert, and Annabeth and I had the most difficult time making sure we didn't drop any on the table or on ourselves. When we finished, she led me to a few clothing stores.

"Choose whatever you'd like and then try it on. The clothes you want, I'll buy," she said.

"That could be a lot of money though," I remarked.

"If Pierce was good for anything, it's that he paid me a handsome salary. Trust me, I have more than enough. Seriously, get whatever you'd like."

I scanned around the shop from the spot I was in. "Annabeth? I have no idea where to begin."

She grinned. "Then I'll help. Let's start out with shirts."

Grabbing my hand, she led me to a shelf with more t-shirts than I'd ever seen in my life. She began pulling out random shirts, and I followed her actions, pretending like I knew what I was doing.

"May I help you with anything?" a saleswoman asked politely.

"Actually, yes, we could use loads of help. Someone stole his carry-on bag with all his clothes and so we need to buy him shirts and jeans and anything else that we think might come in handy."

"Some people are so awful!" The woman exclaimed. "My name is Sandy. I'll be glad to help you search for clothes. What size are you dear?"

"I think he's a large," Annabeth said, covering for me because I had no idea what to pick out, let alone what size I was.

"Let's see here," Sandy murmured, her eyes roving over my figure and making me feel strangely uncomfortable. "Yes, definitely a large in shirts, possibly extra-large in some. And the jeans, I'm not sure. Guess we'll just to do process of elimination with those. Okay, black is always a good place to start, same with white, and we're definitely going to want some blue on you. Those will really make those eyes of yours stand out." Sandy continued to ramble on as she started pulling out shirt after shirt; I looked over at Annabeth. She was trying extremely hard not to giggle. I let out a grin myself before facing forward again because if I kept staring at Annabeth, I was going to fall on the floor laughing. I never knew there could be so much to choosing a t-shirt, but according to Sandy, there was, and that's what killed me. I'm pretty sure she pulled out at least twenty t-shirts before she moved onto jeans. She grabbed four different pairs in different sizes. "Try these on and tell me which fits best. Here's a dressing room for you."

I entered the room with all my clothes; there wasn't really a door, just some fabric hanging down that prevented anyone from seeing in, but I could see out thanks to the reflection of the outside in the mirror caused by the crack in the curtain.

I threw on a black shirt. It fit pretty well, even over my metal arm. While I was putting on a pair of jeans, it suddenly it dawned on me that the saleswoman didn't know about my metal arm. Hell…

"Hey, Annabeth?" I called out.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Uh, we have a problem. My arm."

There was silence from her but Sandy asked, "What's wrong with his arm?"

"Oh, uh, people tend to get freaked out by his arm because of what it looks like. There's nothing to be freaked out by though."

"I promise I won't be scared. And if I am, I won't say anything. Oh, and I just realized what are your names?"

"I'm Annabeth, and that's Bucky."

"Got it. Bucky, I swear I won't be freaked out. Could you please come out so we can see the outfit?"

I took a deep breath. Exiting the dressing room, I waited for the shriek of terror. It never came though.

"It's metal," Sandy said.

"We used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and he lost his arm on a mission. So, as an experiment, the agency gave him a metal one," Annabeth informed. She wasn't lying, she was just twisting the truth, and I appreciated her ability to do that whenever the situation called for it.

"Oh my… that's fascinating! I mean I can understand why people would get freaked out but still. So you two met at work?"

"Yeah, she was my doctor," I said, "And my technician."

"Did your bosses mind the relationship?"

"They hated it, and ended up separating us."

"How horrible! But hey, even though you two lost your jobs, at least now you can be together!" Sandy chirped. "Okay, so the shirt and jeans fit?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

"Perfect. Let me go get some more jeans in that size." I told her what size they were and she left, leaving me and Annabeth alone. She was staring at me, causing me to inquire, "What?"

"Uh, nothing," she replied, shaking her head and letting out a breathy chuckle. "It's just that you look really good in that shirt."

I looked down at the shirt and pointed out, "It's sort of see-through though- you can see my stomach."

"I see no problem with that," she mumbled under her breath. My head snapped up. Annabeth appeared embarrassed, but as much as she was trying, she still failed epically at holding back a grin.

"Definitely getting this shirt," I decided.

"Oh good!" Sandy said, coming back. "Well if you don't like the others, at least you're heading home with one! All right, I got you some more jeans. You'll want to try on all of them just to make sure they fit. Sometimes just because they say they're your size, doesn't mean they are. I know. I've learned the hard way."

Sandy sat back down, chatting with Annabeth some more. I went back into the dressing room, silently trying on all the clothes and listening to the girls' conversation. They talked about a lot of things in a short amount of time: food, clothes, pets (or lack of in Annabeth's case), family, and more. Sandy suddenly changed topics though and questioned, "So, how long have you two been together?"

I could see Annabeth's face in the mirror, and could easily tell she had been knocked speechless. Therefore, I said the first thing that came to my mind: "Ten years."

"_Ten years_? And you're not married?"

"Oh, well, we've known each other ten years," Annabeth said quickly, picking up on what I was doing.

"But we've only been together about a week now," I added.

"Our bosses, they didn't like us together so they made sure we had no chances of seeing each other."

"I see. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Where do y'all live?"

"D.C. It's a nice flat that was close to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Doesn't matter anymore but oh well! It's still lovely there. And it's in a good neighborhood."

I left the dressing room, all the clothes I was getting draped over my metal arm, and the three things I wasn't getting draped over my normal one. Sandy came over and took everything from me, setting it on the checkout counter.

"Would you like any jackets? We have some nice ones for both casual and dressier occasions." Sandy led us over to an area full of jackets.

"Which one do you suggest?" I asked Annabeth.

"Leather's always a good way to go," she remarked, pulling a black one off the rack. I put it on and looked at myself in the mirror. I had to admit, I looked pretty good in it, and intimidating in a bad boy sort of way. I decided to get it. I also got a denim jacket and a sweatshirt. I didn't get any pajamas. There were sweatpants at the bunker, and I didn't like sleeping with a shirt on anyways so I didn't need any. The overall cost was over five hundred dollars for twenty shirts, ten pairs of jeans, and three jackets. I felt guilty spending that much of Annabeth's money, but she didn't seem fazed by it. Sandy wished us a good day and the two of us walked back to the car.

"Oh crap!" Annabeth stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What?" I asked.

"I think I left my jacket in the diner. I'm going to run back there and grab it. I'll meet you at the car."

She was gone before I could protest. I didn't want her going anywhere by herself. I didn't trust her not to get herself into trouble. Annabeth had this aura about her that insinuated she had a nasty habit of getting into things she shouldn't. Then I realized _I _was one of those troublesome situations. Forcing myself not to go after her, I walked slowly back to the car. I kept my head down, not wanting to look at anyone or draw attention to myself. Easier said than done when you're wearing a jacket in eighty degree weather with your metal hand sticking out.

"I'm back," Annabeth said, skidding to a walk next to me. She took the shopping bags out of my left hand, allowing me to stuff it into my jacket pocket. Her jacket was draped over her other arm.

"Last stop is the store and then it's back home," she said. "I know Steve can't get drunk because of what that serum did to him, but I'm not sure about you. Guess we'll see tonight. They have some alcohol at the house but no wine. We can drink that harder stuff later if you want, but for dinner, I like to have wine. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. Steve can't get drunk?"

"No. The super-soldier serum did something that prevents him from getting drunk. You had something similar done to you, serum-wise I mean, but I don't know exactly what, so I have no idea on whether or not you can drunk."

"Twenty bucks says I can," I dared.

She eyed me mischievously. "Twenty bucks says you can't."

"Deal."

"I haven't lost a deal yet you know," she said.

"I can't remember if I have," I joked. While it sucked that I couldn't remember a lot of things, it did get me off the hook for a lot of things, and it made for some good laughs.

The trip to the store was quick; Annabeth knew exactly what she needed, although how cocoa powder fit into the recipe, I'm not sure. I drove us home. We managed to get back to the house before the torrential downpour started.

It was already five o'clock, so Annabeth started cooking dinner. I went and changed into one of my new pairs of jeans and put on the black shirt she liked. When I went downstairs, she was sliding around the kitchen in her socks. She stopped mid-dance move when she saw me.

"You saw nothing," Annabeth warned, shuffling back to the stove, blushing.

"I thought it was adorable."

"Oh shut it," she snapped lightly, her tone taking the seriousness out of the statement.

Dinner was ready in an hour, and while I set the table and poured the wine, she put the food on our plates. Just as she set the plates down on the table, there was a deafening clap of thunder, followed by a blinding flash of lightning.

The power went out.

"You've got to be kidding me," Annabeth said from somewhere in the darkness. I figured out she was to my left. I sidled my way over to her, using her voice as my guide. "This day was going so- OH MY GOD SOMEONE IS TOUCH- oh, it's you, Bucky. Okay, I'm good."

"Sorry!" I exclaimed. I'd gotten a little too confident in my finding abilities, ending up ramming into Annabeth rather than lightly bumping into her.

"You're fine. Let me go see if I can find a flashlight somewhere."

"There's candles in the kitchen," I informed.

"Those'll work," she said in agreement. "Your bionic arm wouldn't happen to have a flashlight installed in it somewhere, would it?"

"Not that I know of. But I know where the candles are. Stay here. I'll get them." I maneuvered and felt my way to the correct drawer (not without banging my knees and hands into the cabinets and counters respectively). I took the candles out of the drawer along with a match box. Lighting a candle, I turned to face Annabeth. She grinned at me.

"Good going, soldier," she complimented. "They wouldn't happen to have any candle holders in there would they?"

I pulled some out. The two of us set to work lighting the candles. There were six total, which gave us just enough light to see what we were eating and where our utensils were (neither of us wanted to lose any digits). Both of us finished in less than twenty minutes, being so hungry that we didn't talk much. I didn't mind though. We put our plates in the sink. Annabeth proceeded to pull out two coffee mugs, placing them on the counter. She then pulled out cocoa, olive oil, salt, flour, and sugar.

"What are you making?" I queried, standing next to her.

"Brownie in a mug. Easier than making a whole brownie and simple enough to make more if we want them.

"What do you put in it?"

"I'll show you." She pulled out two measuring cups and two tablespoons. "Okay, do as I do. So we're going to put in a fourth a cup of sugar and a fourth a cup of flour. Next, we put in two tablespoons of cocoa powder and a pinch of salt. Finally, we put in two tablespoons of olive oil and three tablespoons of water." We mixed the ingredients together. Annabeth put the mugs in the microwave for one minute, forty seconds. While we waited, I said, "So are we definitely doing that dare with the drinking or no?"

"If you want to. I'm game for anything. And since we can't use any electricity, I can't think of anything else we can do."

"I'll go get the drinks," I offered. The alcohol was down in the basement, so it took a couple minutes to get down there safely. I had a candle in my hand the basement stairs were steep. I didn't want to trip and catch the house on fire. That would be bad.

I grabbed as many bottles as I could carry (which turned out to be over half the stash), and went back upstairs. Annabeth was eating her brownie. She glanced up at me before covering her mouth and saying, "Before we get started, I have something for you."

She disappeared for a few brief moments and came back with a small, wrapped box. Curious, I opened it up. Inside lay military dog tags engraved with my full name, my serial number, my next of kin (who she put as Steve Rogers), and an unknown address.

"It's not like the ones you had during the war, far from it, and I'm pretty sure Steve wasn't your next of kin on there, but your serial number is correct, and so is the address. I had to do some digging to find that. Anyways, I thought it'd be nice for you to have _something_ similar from your old life. I don't know, but-"

"I love it," I said, cutting her off. "This is amazing, honestly." I threw the dog tags over my head. Having them lay against my chest gave me a sense of familiarity, like they were meant to be there.

"I'm glad you like it. I was worried you wouldn't."

"I don't just like it, Annabeth, I _love_ it." I gave her a kiss on the cheek and stared back down at my dog tags, smiling to myself.

"Here," she said, handing me a shot glass of what I think was rum. "Here's to…"

"Here's to the downfall of Alexander Pierce, the eventual downfall of HYDRA overall, to me getting my memories back, and most importantly, to you for helping make that possible. Cheers," I said. We clinked out glasses together. I knocked mine back quickly, feeling it burn the back of my throat. Annabeth started choking on hers after she finished it.

"Oh my god that's strong," she remarked, making faces from the taste.

"This is going to be a fun night," I mused. She glared at me before pouring more into our glasses. Two shots turned into twenty. I wasn't even feeling tipsy, but Annabeth was. She was very active while tipsy, along with being extremely hungry. She made three more "brownies in a mug" before she stopped. We ended up in the living room. Annabeth rested her head on the back of the couch. She kept cracking really bad jokes, so bad that they were actually funny. Plus she could barely get through them because she was laughing so hard because she found them so funny, therefore I couldn't help but laugh. It was contagious.

"Annabeth, thank you doing all this. The hair cut, the new clothes, the delicious dinner and dessert, the dare that you have won. Thank you," I said sincerely.

Her laughter subsided, but it was still etched onto her face and in her eyes. "You're welcome."

She seemed surprised by my statement, prompting me to ask, "Have I ever said that to you before?"

"No, why?"

"I'm sorry. I should've said it."

"Bucky," she began. "You've been a brainwashed assassin for practically the entire time I've known you. You didn't even know who you were, so I doubt manners were at the top of your priorities list. Besides, the only time you did talk to me, there was nothing to thank me for."

"What was the only time I talked to you?"

"A story for another time, one to tell when I'm not tipsy and can actually think straight and get up without falling over. I think I'm going to head to bed. I'll see you in the morning Bucky." Annabeth stood up, wobbled in place for a moment, and started to walk away. She stopped though, turned around, and came back to me to kiss me on the cheek. She turned back around and left.

I continued to sit on the couch. The power flickered on around ten. It'd been out for over four hours. Perks of living in the country I guess. I decided to go to bed, but it was hard for me to fall asleep. I kept thinking back to what Annabeth had said about the time I'd talked to her, how it hadn't been a time for me to thank her. I wanted to know, and the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became. Finally, I forced my mind to shut up. I listened to the sounds around me. It was still raining outside, and slowly but surely, the rainfall pattering against my window put me to sleep.

* * *

**This is the longest chapter yet! Nine pages on Word! I hope you enjoyed- this was really just a fluff chapter :) More intense stuff is coming next time. Review please :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**This is going to be a more solemn chapter so prepare yourself!**

**Chapter Quote:  
"You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Take you out and stuff something else in? You know what it's like to be unmade?"  
****~Clint Barton in **_**The Avengers**_

* * *

Chapter 9

**Annabeth**

After our dinner and drinking contest, Bucky and I became much more comfortable around each other. He wasn't so formal with me, he would joke around more, he asked a lot more questions (in particular about Steve), and to me, I believed I was beginning to see the original Bucky Barnes coming out, slowly but surely. Of course, there were times when I had to remind myself that no matter how much he remembered, Bucky would never be the same guy he was back during World War II; he'd been through and seen too much. This would be especially true if he retrieved his memories of his missions as the Winter Soldier. I worried about what would happen if he found those videos… I had them on my computer, security videos that happened to catch him. I'm not saying _all_ his missions were caught on video, but some were, including his attack on Steve, Sam, and Natasha. I hadn't told him about them. If he wanted to know about his time as the Winter Soldier, he would ask. I wasn't going to bring it up. Was it the right thing to do? To keep it from him? I didn't know for sure, but knowing how he reacted to Steve telling him he was Bucky Barnes, I honestly worried about his reaction to finding out his actions as the Winter Soldier.

I was currently putting my hair up in a ponytail because I'd been getting sick of my hair getting in my face every time I looked down when Bucky called for me. His voice sounded… off. I headed into the kitchen. He was sitting at the kitchen table, staring blankly at me laptop.

"What are these?" he demanded, turning the computer around. I glanced at it, feeling my heart practically stop.

"How did you find those?" I asked, staring at the image of the article on Howard Stark's death. Bucky had found them. The files on his Winter Soldier missions. This was not good.

"I clicked on the wrong file."

Sitting down, I asked, "Are you going to watch the videos?"

He nodded. "Unless you're going to stop me."

"You and I both know I wouldn't control you like that."

He glared at me before turning back to the computer. Bucky clicked on a video. It was of Howard Stark's "car crash." Except for the flaring of his nostrils, he showed no emotion. The next video was of him killing a nuclear scientist who was being escorted by Natasha Romanoff. The Winter Soldier shot right through her to kill the scientist, and succeeded. Bucky still remained emotionless. He watched a few more, ones I'd only briefly read about. He somehow managed to avoid clicking on what I considered the worst one for him to watch until the end: him fighting Steve for the first time.

When Bucky realized what video it was, his eyes almost appeared desperate. He hastily hit the play button and watched the montage of clips. The first to show was him standing in the middle of the street, waiting for Nick Fury's car to approach. The Winter Soldier fired a device which hooked onto the vehicle, effectively partially blowing it up and causing it to flip onto its roof. As the Winter Soldier, Bucky simply stepped aside as the car skidded past him. The next video was of him jumping onto Sam Wilson's car as he was driving with Jasper Sitwell, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers. Bucky threw Sitwell out of the car and ripped the steering wheel out of Sam's grasp (now I understood Sam's comment to Bucky when we were at the Smithsonian). The Winter Soldier jumped back onto the truck chasing Sam's car. Now Bucky's face began to change from emotionless to regret, and his breathing was getting heavier. But when he glanced over at me, he tried to hide his reactions. That didn't last long when the video showed him stalking Romanoff with an M-203 when Steve leapt over a car to knock the weapon out of Bucky's hands. Bucky rested his chin on his fist, partially covering his mouth in attempt to not react to what he was watching. But when the end of the security video showed him attacking Steve with a knife, trying to punch Steve with his metal arm with Steve barely blocking the hit with his shield, and finally, Bucky trying to cut Steve up with a knife and managing to punch him instead, the expression on my comrade's face was one of pure mortification. He covered his mouth in his shock, his eyes remorseful.

All I could do was watch.

Nothing I could say would make him feel any better, and I knew he didn't want me to say anything. I'd kept this from him, and he was extremely upset with me because of that. Bucky watched that specific video footage over ten times before he shoved his chair back and stalked out of the kitchen. I didn't go after him, even though my body screamed for me to. He wanted time alone, I could tell, and I respected that.

Instead, I shut off my laptop, grabbed my iPod, and went downstairs to the basement. Bucky had failed to mention earlier that the house had a training area. It wasn't all that big, but it was spacious enough to have a good practice fight and an area to practice archery, shooting, and knife throwing. I particularly liked the knife throwing. It was the most difficult and made me focus, causing me to forget everything else bothering me, which right now was the guilt I possessed for keeping those videos from an amnesiac ex-assassin who hated me for it at the moment.

I wasn't phenomenal at the knife-throwing, but at least I could hit the target, although it was usually on the edges. I was jamming to my music as I threw each knife. I started out with small knives, then moved onto medium sized ones, and then to big ones. When the target was full, I'd yank them out and repeat the process. It was good way to get my frustration out even if I did suck at it.

I checked the time on my iPod periodically. Fifteen minutes passed. Then forty. Then an hour. Then two. Then three. I didn't know whether Bucky had come back or not, but figured if he wanted to speak to me, he'd come find me. Pretty sure I wasn't at the top of his list of people he wanted to talk to.

He'd left at noon, and it was now three thirty. I hadn't heard a door open, I hadn't even heard footsteps, but I felt a presence behind me. It made the hair on my neck stand up. I whirled around and shucked the knife at the figure behind me. They easily dodged out of the way, but that was because my aim was way off anyways. I grabbed another knife and turned back around. The person grabbed my wrist, leaning back from my murderous glare.

"I'm sorry," the person said.

I let out a relieved, possibly also annoyed, sigh. "Jesus, Bucky. You scared the absolute crap out of me. How long have you been there?"

"I noticed, and about ten minutes. Sorry about that…" he apologized, releasing my wrist and shoving his hands in his pockets. I lowered my hand and asked, "Where'd you go?"

"A walk in the woods. I needed to think. The videos… I understand why you didn't tell me about them, and I'm sorry for snapping at you for it. I realize you were doing what you thought best for me, like you always have."

"You're my mission Bucky. I'm sticking with it until the end, no matter what happens."

"Why are you helping me Annabeth? What makes me so special?" he queried, leaning against the table with the knives.

"I don't know," I said, turning around and throwing the knife at the target. As always, it hit the outside ring. "Why are you letting me help you?"

He smiled and got up. Bucky stood behind me. Taking my right hand in his, he said, "Put your left foot forward." I looked at him from the corner of my eye, fully aware of how close he was to me, of how I could feel his heartbeat against my back. I tried to keep my own heart under control as I did he said. "Good. Now, since you're a beginner at this, stretch your left arm forward to help you aim. Okay, bend your right arm back; release the knife once your arm is fully extended."

He kept a feather-light grasp on my wrist as I did what he said. I bent my arm back before extending it in front of me, releasing the knife at the recommended time. The knife struck the target just a little off center. I stared in shock that I'd actually done it though.

"I knew you could do it," he said, smirking at me. I grinned. Grabbing another knife, I did it again, trying to hit the target dead center. It didn't happen, but I was still close.

"Just keep practicing. You'll get it," Bucky encouraged.

"I wouldn't even be able to get it like this if you hadn't helped me."

"The least I could do after all you're doing for me."

I turned to face him. "You don't have to do anything for me."

"But I want to," he said.

I paused for a minute before turning around and saying, "Would you teach me how to fight?"

"To fight?"

"Yes. I'm sick and tired of not knowing how to defend myself properly. Sure I can hit; I can punch and kick hard. But what's the point when I don't know real maneuvers if my opponent does?"

"I can do that," Bucky said. "But I don't want to hurt you."

"You've never hurt me before; I trust you."

Bucky took off his jacket, throwing it on the table before meeting me in the center of the arena. "Then if you trust me, I trust myself too. Let's get started."

* * *

**There's more to come, I promise! Hope you enjoyed! Please review :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Another intense chapter and so will the next one! I hope you enjoy! :)**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."  
****~Loki in **_**The Avengers**_

* * *

Chapter 10

**Bucky**

Annabeth learned fast. In just a three days, she had mastered all the basic defense maneuvers taught her. We hardly encountered any problems except for a single major one. She trusted me not to hurt her, but she didn't trust herself not to hurt me, even in the littlest way. Annabeth was genuinely afraid of hurting me, even though the damage she could do was nowhere near the caliber of what HYDRA did to me, and I used this argument in convincing her to use the defensive techniques on me. It took around four hours of convincing though. Finally, I won the debate. She did give me a few bruises, and to be honest, I was probably going to hurt a little the next few days because of it, but I didn't tell her this. She'd already been apprehensive enough about this. No need to tell her she'd actually somewhat hurt me because then she'd refuse to practice with me in that manner again, but she wouldn't learn properly if she _didn't_ use me in that manner. However, the pain she inflicted on me was miniscule compared to what I went through with HYDRA, yet another thing I hadn't mentioned to her.

The videos I'd watched, along with giving me some more _good_ memories about Steve and some new people –such as Peggy Carter and Howard Stark- also flooded me with _bad_ memories. Horrific ones. Annabeth had kept from telling me about those videos for a reason, but now with the dreams I was having, I comprehended her actions even more.

The two of us had just finished sparring. Annabeth was sweating because we'd been practicing for over three hours, non-stop. I didn't even get winded. She gave me a playful shove due to her annoyance at my endurance. She announced to me she was going to go take a shower and get cleaned up before dinner. I nodded and went upstairs to sit in the living room and watch television. It was so strange that it was in color now. Everything was in color. It fascinated me completely. I mainly watched the history channel to catch up on the things I'd missed out on over the years. I'd tried watching the news but the politics had become so corrupted overall that I could barely stomach it. Most importantly though, the television became really good at keeping me awake. After the first night of non-stop nightmares of my past actions, I couldn't fall asleep. I'd gone three days now without sleep. If Annabeth noticed anything, she hadn't said a word to me about it. I was glad. I didn't want to burden her with _another _problem of mine. She was already handling all my others. She could take a lot, but I didn't want to overwhelm her.

Problem now was that I found myself slipping off into sleep every once in a while, just barely waking up before the dreams started. If I allowed myself to fall asleep and dream, I wouldn't be able to wake up until they were over, and god only knows how long that would take.

Today, the history channel was showing a documentary on none other than the Howling Commandos and their leader, Captain America. It felt strange, watching a documentary about myself in the 1940s, looking exactly the same then as I did now when I should've had white hair, wrinkly skin, and a cane to hit stupid people with. There were interviews with people who had known the Howling Commandos. According to one person, Dugan had a nasty habit of taking bets and losing them, no matter how many people told him not to do it; Gabriel was fluent in German and French. Dernier was a crazy man who lay down in front of a HYDRA tank so he could attach an explosive device on the bottom of it. Falsworth was a lord who wanted to fight for his country and did a damn good job of it. Morita took crap from no one. Steve was their fearless leader.

And then there was me. James Buchanan Barnes. Captured, imprisoned, and tortured by HYDRA's scientist Arnim Zola before being rescued by my best friend since childhood. I fought side by side with Captain America, going everywhere with him. I was one of two Howling Commandos to go with Steve on the train to capture Zola. Gabriel was the second. That was the mission I'd "lost" my life. In reality, I'd survived the fall. I remembered the terror as I plummeted downwards, but I didn't remember the pain of landing on the ground. I was grateful for that. It was the last time I'd seen Steve too…

I recalled the day before I shipped out with the 107th. Steve hadn't gone through the super soldier serum yet, so he was still small and sickly and scrawny, and I felt protective of him. I wondered how he'd do without me there to protect him. Of course, after I shipped out, he went through Dr. Erskine's program and became Captain America. The first time I saw him in his super soldier glory was when he rescued me. The reunion, despite the situation, had been a little comedic due to my surprise.

"_Steve?" I asked, not believing my eyes._

"_It's me," he said. "I thought you were dead."_

_I looked him over. "I thought you were smaller."_

"_Come on," he said, helping me up. We began our escape._

"_What happened to you?" I queried._

"_I joined the army."_

"_Did it hurt?"_

"_A little."_

"_Is it permanent?"_

"_So far."_

At first, I'd been proud of him, and happy that he could defend himself now. But as we walked back to the American camp, two things dawned on me. First, I'd warned Steve not to do anything stupid until I got back from the war. And what did he do? He went off and did something stupid. Awesome, don't get me wrong, but stupid. How did he even know the serum was going to work? I'll tell you something: he didn't.

Second, my whole life, I'd needed to protect him from being bullied and to keep the bullies away from him, and I'd been his only friend. Now, with his size, he didn't need me to protect him. Now, he had hundreds of people who considered themselves his friends. I was now expendable to him, and it scared me that he might possibly leave me in the dust. However, it didn't take me long to figure out that I was wrong. Steve still wanted me in his life, as his best friend, which I was extremely relieved about. I hadn't wanted to lose my best friend.

After the rescue, the Howling Commandos were formed, with me as Steve's right hand man, the one who went everywhere with him. I had the honor of meeting Howard Stark during that time. I always thought he was awesome after seeing the guy at the Modern Marvels Pavilion with his floating car.

Then there was Peggy Carter. I never really talked to her much, and the one time I really had tried, she kept her eyes on Steve the entire time and I realized that I was turning into him before the serum: invisible. I was joking of course.

Sort of.

I missed back then.

Suddenly, the memory of me falling off the train came back to me. I recollected waking up from the fall in an unfamiliar laboratory, and wondering what happened to my arm because it felt… different. I lifted my arms up and stared at the alteration. My right hand remained normal, but my left… it was metal. In fact, my entire left arm was metal. The memory fast forwarded to the first time I was put in cryo. I didn't know what was happening then. I raised my hand metal hand as I stared at my reflection, but that was soon over as I was frozen until I was needed.

My brain moved forward to speeding car crashing into a bridge above a freeway. It was Howard and Maria Stark's car. I'd implanted a device on their car earlier that would make it lose control. I then got in my own vehicle with some accomplices and followed the Starks. At the right moment, I made the device work its havoc on the car. When the car crashed, I got out of my vehicle and double-checked that they were dead. It was easy enough to tell from afar that they were. I got back in my vehicle and drove off. I remembered the newspaper, the front page article saying "Howard and Maria Stark Die in Car Crash."

But the worst memory for me was me fighting Steve a few weeks ago. I remembered my metal hand gripping his throat and lifting him up. I remembered him straining to pull my hand off of him. And then, during our final battle, I shot him not once, not twice, but three times, on the helicarrier. I nearly killed him, yet I remembered the look on his face as the helicarrier we were on was slowly falling out of the sky towards the Potomac, and how he was staring at the metal beam trapping me before he jumped down and lifted it off of me. I proceeded to attack him until he finally got through to me that I _knew _him, that somehow, I _knew_ this man. But before I could do anything else, the floor beneath us gave way. I grabbed onto something, preventing myself from falling but not him. I watched as Steve, beaten and bloody, fell to the river.

* * *

I shot into sitting position on the couch. I'd fallen asleep. My breathing was heavy from the nightmare. Annabeth swung the door open; she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me.

"Bucky?" I didn't reply as the images replayed themselves over and over in my head. She walked over and sat next to me. "How long have they been going on?"

"Since I saw the videos," I admitted.

"What are they of?"

"Mainly Steve, but sometimes of Howard Stark. I dream of killing him and trying relentlessly to kill Steve." I placed my head in my hands; my fingers curled and uncurled in my hair, causing pain. The pain distracted me from the gruesome memories.

"You're not to blame for that Bucky," Annabeth said.

I looked at her. Shocked, I demanded, "How can you say that?! You, especially you, know what I've done! How am I not to blame?!"

Annabeth pulled down my hand gently and grasped it. "What HYDRA did to you was essentially turn you into their pet robot. You had no recollection of who you were. You had no sense of right and wrong. You were trained to do what you were told no matter what, or the consequences would be severe. You didn't have control of yourself. How could you have stopped yourself from carrying out those missions when you didn't even know who you were?"

"I have two conflicting realities in my head: one as me as Bucky Barnes and one as me as the Winter Soldier, and it's driving me insane, because I know Bucky, me, wouldn't have done the things the Winter Soldier did, and yet I _did_ do them. I wanted to save my friends, not kill and hurt them."

"And you won't, not anymore. Not now that you know who you are again. You will always carry the actions of the Winter Soldier with you, but those actions do not define you, just like your metal arm does not define you. HYDRA saw you as an asset; I see you as a person. I'm not going to lie to you. You're going to probably have nightmares about things for weeks, but I also know it'll get better. Sometimes, before things get better, things get worse."

"I don't know how much worse it can get."

"Don't jinx it," she laughed. Annabeth sobered up quickly. "I've noticed the dark circles under your eyes the past couple of days, but didn't ask because I didn't think you wanted me to."

"I didn't want to burden you with more of my problems."

"Never think you're burdening me. I told you I'd help you, and that means with anything that you need help with." I nodded and let out a big sigh, allowing some of my stress to melt away. Annabeth stroked my hair, making me look up.

"You need to get some more sleep Bucky," she said. "You're exhausted."

"I don't know if I can handle the nightmares again though…"

"I'll stay next to you all night if that means you'll sleep."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. What do you say?" I couldn't say anything; she'd knocked me speechless. Instead, I hugged her, resting my forehead on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged back. I heard her let out a small, short laugh before she said, "I'm going to take that as a yes."

* * *

**Another partial fluff chapter! Review if you enjoyed :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**I'm not gonna fight you."  
****~Captain America in **_**Captain America: The Winter Soldier**_

* * *

Chapter 11

**Annabeth**

For the first couple of days, I'd only been going into Bucky's room whenever I heard him yelling in his dreams. I'd stay with him until he fell back asleep and then I'd go back to my room. But the fourth day, I woke up in Bucky's bed. He was on my laptop next to me, reading all the material he could find about himself as Bucky Barnes.

"You fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you, so I just let you sleep in my bed," he admitted. "I hope you don't mind."

I smiled at him. "Not at all. Thank you."

"If it's easier for you, at night, when you come to my rescue in the middle of the night, you're welcome to stay in my bed if you're too tired to go back to yours. I know I wake you up multiple times. I'm not trying to hit on you, I promise."

"I trust you," I said. "I might take you up on that offer."

And I did. I ended up simply sleeping in his bed with him at night. We were careful to stay on our sides, but once in a while I'd wake up with his hand on my arm. It always made me smile. Whether it was coincidence or not, Bucky's dreams didn't appear as frequently. Compared to having six or seven screaming episodes a night, he only had two or three. He swore it was because of me, but I told him it was all him.

It was now Sunday night, and I realized I'd been with Bucky almost a whole month. I hoped Steve and Sam were doing okay. From what I'd heard, Steve had had to go deal with an 8-foot robot named Ultron or something. I wasn't sure. Neither Bucky nor I got out enough to actually learn about what was going on, and surprisingly, there wasn't much on the internet about current news.

I was currently reading a book I'd bought a couple days ago. It was a history book on the Civil War. About two hours into it, Bucky started muttering things in his sleep, Russian it sounded like. I ignored it. He would talk in his sleep a lot and be fine. This mumbling didn't worry me. I began reading my book when Bucky's hand pounded the bed, right next to my leg. If he'd had hit me, my leg would've been broken, there was no doubt about that in my mind. Setting the book down, I gently placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking him lightly and asking him to wake up. I thought it was working until he took my wrist in a near bone-crushing grip.

"Bucky!" I shouted, panic rising in my chest. I'd never been afraid of him before, and I wasn't now. He was just dreaming; I could get him out of this. His eyes sprang open; they had wild, almost feral look in them. They flitted all over the place, taking in the surroundings before landing on me. I smiled sympathetically at him. "Hey, it was just a dream. That's all it was Bucky, I pro-"

Bucky's hand went for my throat. I barely avoided it by snapping backwards.

"Bucky, please," I began, trying to get out of the bed.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" he snarled. My pulse pounded through my body. He didn't remember who I was, and more importantly, who _he_ was.

Realizing he still had my wrist in his grasp, he took advantage of it and used it to slam me into the wall. My head knocked into the dry wall so hard it actually made a hole. I groaned from the pain. At that moment, cold fingers wrapped themselves around my neck.

"Bucky!" I gasped, attempting to breathe. "Please, let me go."

"Shut up!" He practically screamed. "Stop saying that name!"

I struggled to stammer out a sentence. "My n-name is… Anna-Annabeth Dr-Drew. I'm… h-here to he-help you."

"You're HYDRA. No one in HYDRA's ever helped me, and you're just like them. You're no different. You just don't want me to kill you. Too bad."

His fingers started gripping tighter, my vision was starting to become spotted. Desperately, I told him, "Y-you won't kill… kill me, even w-when you h-had the chance las-last time."

"Oh yeah? And when was that?"

"Five years a-ago… J-July fourth."

Unless I was mistaken (which I very well might have been considering I could barely breathe), a flicker of remembrance flashed through his eyes. I stopped trying to pry his fingers off my throat and used my free hand to cup his face. The Winter Soldier stared at me, trying to figure out if what I was saying was true. I took the distraction to hit a specific spot on his metal arm, one that would make it malfunction slightly before making it immobilized, which would free me. I didn't want to lay any hand against Bucky, but I couldn't help him if I was dead.

Just like I predicted, his metal hand spasmed off of my throat. I dropped to the ground in a heap, having a massive coughing fit when all the air found its way back to my lungs. I looked up to see Bucky holding his metal arm. His chest rose and fell rapidly. He made eye contact with me, and they weren't the cold, merciless eyes of the Winter Soldier anymore.

"A-Annabeth?" Bucky stammered.

"Hey soldier," I whispered, trying to get up. However, between the lack of oxygen and the shock my body was going through, the movement was too much for me to handle and I passed out on the floor.

* * *

**Bucky**

I stood rooted to the spot, staring at an unconscious Annabeth. It took me a few seconds to move because I was in so much shock over what I'd just done to her. I pulled her up into my arms, cradling her gently, pleading with her to wake up. I placed my head next to her heart, to make sure it was still beating. It was there, faint, but still there. If I had killed her… I would never forgive myself. It took a lot of convincing from her to help me not feel guilty about all the assassinations I'd done, particularly Howard Stark's. I'd just now forgiven myself for those because I _hadn't_ known what I was doing. But with Annabeth… no. There was nothing that could help me forgive myself.

I gingerly stood up and brought her to my bed. After covering her up, I went and sat on the opposite side of the room so I was far enough away that there was no possible way for me to hurt her while I was awake.

Speaking of being awake, there was no way I'd be falling asleep any time soon. Hurting Annabeth was a worse nightmare for me than any dream of my past, because at least with my past, I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't remember it. But strangling Annabeth? I remembered the entire episode, even though I _know_ I didn't know who I was when it was happening. My brain… short-circuited or something. How many times would it do that before it stopped? _Would_ it even stop? Or would I always have these mind switches where I would turn into the Winter Soldier with no recollection of anyone, who was a ruthless killer, who didn't care who he killed?

"Bucky?" Annabeth murmured. My head snapped up. Her eyes were still have shut but she was looking at me worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Am _I_ okay?" I started to splutter a little. "Annabeth… I just tried- I nearly- I almost… how can you ask if I'm okay?"

"Because you looked worried," she replied, rolling onto her side.

"I almost killed you. I'm not worried. I'm mortified. Who's to say I won't suddenly turn on you again?"

"We don't, but I'm not worried. I was able to stop it."

"But what if you can't next time? Annabeth, I remember what I did just now. I remember my fingers around your throat. I remember _enjoying_ the thought of killing you."

"You thought I was HYDRA. You hated them, but you couldn't do anything to them before because they had enough men to overpower you. But I was the only one in the room. One good hit to my head and you could kill me. I was an easy target. That's all. You want revenge on HYDRA for doing what they did, and since you thought I was with them, you thought to start with me."

Annabeth swung her legs over the bed. I could tell she was still out of it, and that the simplest movements exhausted her. She began walking towards me, but I ordered, "Stop."

She did. "What?"

"Don't… come any closer."

Annabeth sat down on the floor, legs stretched out. She leaned back on her arms and stared at me. "Okay, I won't come closer."

My eyes traveled down to her neck. Black and purple bruises were forming a ring. I cringed outwardly.

"It doesn't hurt," she commented. "Feels weird, but it doesn't hurt."

"You shouldn't feel anything. I shouldn't have done that."

"You didn't know," she said, shifting her position to make it more comfortable.

"Maybe you should stop coming to check on me when I have the nightmares…"

"When hell freezes over."

"That wasn't a request Annabeth."

"I'm not going to force myself on you, but I am going to strongly suggest that you let me continue to wake you up from your nightmares."

"No, I'm not taking it back. I'm not going to risk hurting you again. I came too close to killing you this time. Please."

She let out a sigh as she stood up. "I wish you would trust yourself as much as I trust you. I'll go make something for us to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"All right, well then I'll put some in a container for you in case you get hungry later." Annabeth began to leave, but I said, "Promise me something."

"Hmm?" she asked.

"That if I have another episode, that you run away from me. That you will not stay in the same room as me. Hell, call Steve if you feel like you need to, but don't stay near me during my next episode. Get as far away from me as you can. And if I somehow trap you before you can escape, hurt me. I don't care. Do whatever you have to do to get away. Promise me, Annabeth."

She hesitated before responding. "I refuse to hurt you, but I promise."

Knowing that was the best I was going to get, I let her leave.

* * *

**Annabeth**

Three days passed with Bucky completely avoiding me. It hurt, because I felt not only did he not trust himself, but that he didn't trust me. However, I also understood where he was coming from and I respected that. These conflicting emotions were making me touchy, so I went and did something that I knew would calm me down: knife throwing.

I'd gotten pretty good at it. I was able to hit the target dead center most of the time, but I had to focus completely if I wanted that to happen. I practiced for hours, not just throwing, but holding and fighting with it too. Bucky had taught me more maneuvers (with the exception of the past three days). It was entertaining to do, particularly throwing the knife in the air, doing some cool judo move, and catching the knife again.

About two hours into practice, I heard Bucky start yelling in his dreams. My hand gripped around the knife tightly as I forced myself, for the ninth time in the past few days, not to run up to him. This was out of respect to his wishes more than anything else. If he hadn't made me promise not to run to him, I would already be up there with him.

The shouting continued, and I couldn't focus on the knife practice anymore. I sank against a pole to the floor and placed my head in my hands, repeating to myself: "Don't go up there Annabeth. You promised. Don't go up there."

That changed when I heard him cry out for me. Repeatedly. I should've thought he was still asleep, but the shock that he was calling for me overruled my better judgment as I ran up to him. I threw open his door to find him thrashing in the sheets. He was still muttering my name and I figured if he was remembering my name in his dreams, if I woke him up, then he'd still remember me if I woke him up.

Dashing to his side, I placed my hands on his flailing arms, telling him to wake up. He did, panic evident in his eyes. Like last time, they instantly landed on me.

"Wh- Annabeth?" he said.

"Hey," I whispered.

"I- I thought I told you not to wake me up," he chastised.

"You were calling out for me."

"I was?"

"Yes."

"And you ran and woke me up?"

"Yes."

"Even after what I did to you last time?"

"Yes."

"Annabeth, you promised you wouldn't wake me up!"

"I thought you were up because you were calling my name," I defended. "I didn't think you'd actually dream about me, let alone call my name out."

"It's dangerous for you to do it. Don't get yourself killed trying to help me."

Finally, I was done with this whole situation. "Bucky, enough. If I get myself killed trying to help you, then that's _my_ choice, _my_ fault, not _yours_. And you are not the only person in this world who's tried to kill me so if you think that one incident is going to scare me off? Think again. You want to know the reason I trust you? The reason I believe with complete certainty that you will never kill me? Because when you were the Winter Soldier, Pierce gave you the option to kill me or let me live. Never, not once in that career of yours, did you let a victim get away. In all honesty, I thought you would kill me that night. But you didn't, obviously, because I'm here _now_. Did I mention you'd been brainwashed before being sent to kill me? You had absolutely no memory of who I was and yet you still let me live. For some reason Bucky, no matter what, you always let me live. So no, I'm not afraid of you, I never have been, and I never will be. Stop pushing me away from you, please. And if you're pushing me away because I'm getting annoying or because you want to be alone, then _tell_ me. I don't care, it won't hurt my feelings. But don't use the 'I-don't-want-to-hurt-you' card because it won't work on me. You'll have to come up with something better than that."

Bucky stared at me as I got up. I didn't want to stay in the house any longer. I needed to get out and get some fresh air.

"Where are you going?" Bucky asked from behind me. When I told him, he said, "Let me go with you."

"No, I'd prefer to walk by myself."

"Please?"

"That wasn't a request," I retorted, stalking out the front door. If he was following me, I couldn't hear him, but I doubted he was.

I walked briskly through the brush, wanting to get away from the house. The farther away I got, the more upset I became with myself. I shouldn't have snapped at him like that. He didn't know, he was trying to protect me in the only way he knew how, even though I didn't need protecting. Maybe I was just so sleep deprived that my brain wasn't functioning well enough to remind me not to yell at Bucky, because that wouldn't help the trust issues we were currently having.

I plopped down in front of a small pond. It was a quiet area, allowing me to collect my thoughts, and my wits, again. I was really starting to beat myself up over my outburst. He hadn't deserved it. I'd nearly come too close to telling him something else but I'd managed to refrain.

The cracking of twigs behind me made me turn around. I assumed it'd be Bucky; after all, we were in the middle of nowhere practically. But I was wrong. Two burly men appeared. They gave off a bad aura. They were dangerous. One even had a rifle in his hands. I began to move away, hoping they wouldn't see me, but unfortunately, they did.

The taller of the two whistled appreciatively. "Hello pretty lady."

"What's a pretty girl like you doing all out here by your lonesome sweetheart?" the other one asked.

"Leaving," I said shortly.

"Stay a while baby. My name is Jesse. This here is Kyle. What's yours?" The first guy said.

"I'm not your 'baby' and I'm not telling you my name. I'm leaving." I started to back up, but they followed.

"You're staying with us for a bit," Kyle warned, holding his rifle up towards me, sneering. My mind raced in an effort to try to get out of this situation. First I needed to get that rifle out of my face, then I needed to get out of there.

So I did what I do best. I improvised. I looked between them and pretended to act surprised and relieved. "Bucky, thank god you're here."

Predictably, Jesse and Kyle turned around. I took the opportunity to kick the rifle out of the latter's hands. The action stunned the two of them enough to give me ample time to escape. I darted into the trees. I heard them screeching angrily behind me along with crashing. They were coming after me. I could always stand and fight them, but compared to them, I was tiny. No matter how much of a fighter I was, there was no way I could take on both of them. Maybe one at a time… if I could separate them…

I slid to a stop and hid behind a tree. Kyle and Jesse came into view a few seconds later; I could see them. They couldn't see me.

"Where'd she go?" Kyle demanded.

"No idea. You go that way. I'll keep headin' this way," Jesse ordered. The boys separated. I thanked God for giving me the guy without the rifle. I could handle him by myself. Jesse walked straight past my hiding spot without realizing I was there. I tiptoed behind him, preparing to execute a defensive move Bucky taught me when someone slammed something into my head, knocking me to the ground. I rolled over, gasping from pain, to see Kyle grinning maliciously over me. Jesse tried to sit on top of me but I was going to have none of that. I slammed my foot into his crotch. The pain immobilized him. He collapsed to the ground in a whimpering pile.

"All right bitch, if you behave, we might let you live," Kyle warned.

I growled, "And by behave, you mean let you have your way with me? Yeah, not happening bucko."

I swiped his feet from underneath him. He lost his balance but stayed upright. It gave me enough time to get up myself though. He lunged at me. I dodged out of the way and kicked him literally in the ass, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The rifle flew out of his hands; I snatched it up before he could. Jesse had gotten back up, but I hadn't noticed he had until he had his arm wrapped around my neck. I struggled violently against him, but he was strong.

I screamed, loud, long, and sharp.

Kyle covered his ears; he slapped me good and hard when I was done. I felt his ring cut my cheek. It stung. He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. "Little spitfire aren't you? You think screaming is going to help? We're in the middle of nowhere baby. No one is coming to your rescue you."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," I said.

"Oh, I would." At that moment, someone tapped Kyle on the shoulder. I saw the hesitation flash in his eyes before turning around.

"Actually, she would be right," Bucky snarled. I'd never seen the Winter Soldier fight in person, let alone even hit someone else, just through video, so I had no idea exactly how strong he was until he punched Kyle square in the face with his metal arm; the jerk went flying back at least fifteen feet. He would've gone farther had a tree not blocked his path. Jesse released my neck but now that it was just him, I whirled around and whacked him in the head with the rifle. Bucky lifted Jesse up by the neck, walked over to Kyle, picked him up by the neck too, and slammed them into trees, pinning them there.

"If I _ever_ catch you harassing her again. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to kill you. Understand?" Bucky admonished harshly. He dropped Jesse and Kyle to the ground and turned to me. "Are you okay?"

I walked up to the two men and kicked them as hard as I could in the crotch. They hollered out in pain. Turning around to face Bucky, I said, "_Now_ I'm okay."

He grabbed my hand and the two of us trekked back to the house in silence. I wondered what was going through his mind. He seemed angry and I wondered if it was at me or Kyle and Jesse or all three of us. When we got to the house, Bucky asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, just a small cut on the cheek." His nostrils flared but he remained silent. "I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I don't have an excuse for it; I shouldn't have done it."

"You were frustrated, and you made some good points. I understand." He walked into the kitchen. I followed.

"Just because I was frustrated doesn't give me a good excuse. I'm promised you I would help you and if that means letting you scream in your sleep and doing nothing about it, then so be it. I'm sorry Bucky."

"Don't be. You were right. I shouldn't have used the 'I-don't-want-to-hurt-you' card. It wasn't the reason I was pushing you away."

"So why were you?"

"Because you were scaring me. You have a good habit of that actually. Especially when you went for that walk. I thought you weren't coming back… and then I heard you scream and don't even get me started about how panicked I became."

"I… scare you? Uh, how do I scare you? I mean, I'm tall, but I'm not muscular, I'm not a kickass assassin either. How does a person like me scare a person like you?"

"Because you're not scared of me when I scare myself. Damn it Anna, even Steve was scared of me at some point, but you, disregarding the first time you met me, were never scared. I think you were scared of what I could do, but not of me personally. And you _should _be. I'm a time-bomb. God only knows when I'm going to snap back into my Winter Soldier mentality and try and kill you again. Like you said, one good hit to the head and I could kill you, and still you somehow see good in me. Somehow, for some reason, you think I'm this wonderful person when in reality I'm nothing but a monster!"

"James Buchanan Barnes, I've never given you an order in my life, but I'm about to. Listen to me and listen to me carefully: you are not a monster and you never have been. You've been scary as hell, sure, and you're right, it does scare me what you can do, what you do, but not you yourself. You were a soldier trained to do whatever his superiors wanted. And you probably enjoyed the thrill of the chase, but that doesn't make you a monster; that makes you human. What makes humans monsters is when they kill someone of their own volition, not because they're on orders. If you're on orders, then it is your job. The job might seem monstrous to some people, but does that make the person monstrous? No, it doesn't. At least not always. In your situation, it is far from making you a monster. You're a man who's been beaten, tortured, and brainwashed into submission. You didn't know any better than to carry out what you were told. And these nightmares you're having? They torment you day and night. If you were a monster like you claim you are, you wouldn't care. They wouldn't cause you any pain. And what about those two men you just saved me from? A monster would've killed them without second thought. But you let them live."

"I did want to kill them though," Bucky admitted.

"But you didn't. What you're going through is not easy, and there'll be times when you think it's hopeless, but it won't be. Your life will never be the same. You will never be the James Buchanan Barnes from World War II, but you'll never not be him either. Do you understand me? Promise me you'll never call yourself a monster again."

Bucky pulled me into a hug, one hand wrapped around my waist, the other cradling my head close to his chest. "I promise if you promise never to leave me like that again."

I smiled. "Promise."

* * *

**Do you think Bucky will have another episode? Or was this a one-time thing? Review :)**


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